NEWS: Scores Killed in Thai Gun Battles

The BBC is reporting that Islamic militants armed with guns and machetes carried a series of attacks against police bases in the region. More than 90 people are said to have been killed in a spate of gun battles in southern Thailand.



More than 30 died when troops stormed a mosque in Pattani, where some of the militants had retreated to.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has blamed local gun-smuggling gangs for the attacks.

But officials on the ground have pinned the blame on Islamic separatists trained by militant groups.

The BBC correspondent in Bangkok, Kylie Morris, says the fighting is a serious escalation of the violence that began in early January with a raid on a military arsenal.

In the intervening months, more than 100 people have been killed in almost daily small-scale attacks.



Scores killed in Thai gun battles

[Edited on 28-4-2004 by Ocelot]

[Edited on 28-4-2004 by Ocelot]

[Edited on 4-28-2004 by Valhall]

Thai police shot and killed more than 70 machete-wielding militants who launched simultaneous pre-dawn raids on security outposts today, in the heaviest fighting yet in the troubled Muslim-dominated south, officials said.

The youths, suspected to be Islamic militants, attacked more than 15 police bases, village defence volunteer outposts and district offices in a bid to rob weapons in Yala, Pattani and Songkhla provinces, said Yala Governor Boonyasit Suwanarat.

At least three policemen and one soldier were also killed.


Scores killed as Thai muslims launch attacks

BANGKOK, Thailand -- At least 96 people have been killed in co-ordinated attacks on security posts in Thailand in the deadliest fighting this year in the country's predominantly Muslim south.



Black-clad bandits attacked 15 police stations in three southern provinces -- Yala, Pattani and Songkhla -- killing three policemen and one army officer.

More than 150 people have died since unrest began in early January in Thailand's restive Muslim-dominated southern provinces, but Wednesday's violence is the worst single incident to date.

"In Yala alone the insurgents attacked six targets and at least 45 of them were killed. We lost two police officers and seven were injured," Yala governor Boonyasit Suwanarat it told a news conference.

96 killed in Thailand attacks

PATTANI, Thailand (AP) - Scores of teenage militants armed with little more than machetes attacked checkpoints and bases across Thailand's troubled Muslim-dominated south Wednesday, but they were repulsed by police who had been tipped off to the offensive. At least 90 militants were killed.
The last of the raids was quashed when police fired tear gas into a mosque and then killed 11 fighters who tried to escape.

It was the worst violence in a region that has seen nearly 160 people killed in scores of attacks this year. The government has blamed Islamic separatists who have sought to carve out a homeland in the Muslim-majority south of this predominantly Buddhist country for decades.

At Least 93 Killed in Fighting Between Militants and Police in Troubled South of Thailand

PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - More than 90 people were killed around dawn on Wednesday when gangs of machete-wielding Muslim youths attacked police and soldiers in a sharp escalation of violence in Thailand's south, officials said.

A government spokesman said the latest death toll stood at 92 "bandits," many of them young men wearing black or dark green uniforms with bright red headbands. Four members of the security forces had also been killed and nine wounded, he added.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to smash what he said were rings of troublemakers motivated purely by crime, rather than religion or ideology in a region which saw a low-key Muslim separatist rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s.


Nearly 100 Dead in Muslim Battle in Thailand

Bangkok, April 28 (NNN): At least 100 militants and ten security personnel were killed in a spate of gun battles in the Muslim-dominated southern Thailand when ultras raided several police bases in the region early Wednesday, according to officials here.

The machete-wielding militants attacked more than 15 police outposts and district offices in Yala, Pattani and Songkhla provinces in a bid to steal weapons, the officials said.

The attackers were mostly teenagers, an official spokesman said, adding that the toll might go up.

The police were prepared for the attack as they had received a tip-off.

110 Killed In Spate Of Southern Thailand Clashes

BANGKOK: Clashes between security forces and youths who launched attacks on police and army checkpoints in Thailand's Muslim south have left up to 65 people dead, authorities said.



Regional police commander Prung Boonpadung said officers battled armed groups in 10 locations in the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla.

"The attackers were mostly teenagers, and they targeted police and army checkpoints," he said, adding that 60 attackers and about four or five police and army officers were killed.

"There were clashes at six checkpoints in Yala, three in Pattani and one in Songkhla," Prung said.

Clashes in Thailand's Muslim south leave up to 65 dead



[Edited on 28-4-2004 by Ocelot]

Nice work Ocelot

Islamic militants? Muslims?

For those who have read my posts in other threads related to the war on terrorism, and the growing global conflict between western/christian culture and Islam. This series of reports kinda backs up what I have been saying.

wake up, call this war what it is, are you still afriad to blame Islam?

How long until every nation feels the pain and reality of this conflict?

Gazz

Um_Gazz: "For those who have read my posts in other threads related to the war on terrorism, and the growing global conflict between western/christian culture and Islam. This series of reports kinda backs up what I have been saying.

wake up, call this war what it is, are you still afriad to blame Islam?

How long until every nation feels the pain and reality of this conflict?"

How very dramatic and alarmist. The attacks happened in the MUSLIM SOUTH, nowhere in these articles does it say that they were Muslim attackers.

"Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has blamed local gun-smuggling gangs for the attacks....

However, Thaksin described those who carried out the attacks as "youths from the southern provinces" whose actions were "not linked with international terrorists"."

Way to stoke the fear and anger by using your own facts. Do you actually know any of the history of Thailand or why people have been getting killed there DAILY in attacks like this, on a lesser scale?

I mean, I assume that when you say :"This series of reports kinda backs up what I have been saying" about the insidious evil march of Islam, that you actually know that these attackers were Muslim or you know the history of Muslims in the predominantly Buddhist Thailand, so please, regale me with your insights.

Or, um, if you don't know what the heck you're talking about, learn it.

jako

Yes well checkout this article: news.ninemsn.com.au...
you may be interested considern muslim terrorists are now living in the actual core of Thailand, Bangkok, with al-qaida linked fake New Zealand passports.

Believe it or not, but this kind of thing has been happening in Southen Thailand for a long time. You see, Malaysia is a muslim country, and the Southern Thai's are mostly muslim and consider themselves Malay. As a result, they want to seperate and join Malaysia. It has nothing to do with Al-Queda.

Believe it ot not it's a big world, with a lot going on. It's not necessarily about the US, 911, or a war between good and evil.

Stop thinking in Black and White!

[Edited on 28-4-2004 by Ninjorp]

Ya know, this was only a blurb in the Washington Post? I read the article on the train and it was REAL short. The Falluejah strikes took front page.

I bet they just ripped them kids up. I had post some links in the fallujah thread, I hadnt seen this. Its ugly, of course the washington post is only going to give it a blurp.

Hrm, just saw some footage of that on the News, showed footage of Tanks opening fire. Also named Jemaah Islamiyah as a likely culprit.

Guess the Thai's don't screw around when it comes to terrorists?

My friend just got back form Thailand last week. He had a great time.

Originally posted by Jakomo
I mean, I assume that when you say :"This series of reports kinda backs up what I have been saying" about the insidious evil march of Islam, that you actually know that these attackers were Muslim or you know the history of Muslims in the predominantly Buddhist Thailand, so please, regale me with your insights.

I am sorry if I am lacking understanding here, but when I reply in these news forums I only post my thoughts, opinions and views on the topic at hand. It is not meant to cause fear, or to add to the substance of the report.
Just to show my take on world events, I am not on a mission here. Just offering my own thoughts. when the day comes that I offer a news report or thread it will all be factual and not in any way based on what I think alone. And at that time I will share sources, links and my own writing based on the facts. I will continue to reply in these threads based only on my thoughts not what we are being force fed by the news media.

Gazz

At least 112 people were killed in a drastic upsurge of violence in southern Thailand yesterday. The carnage was apparently triggered when suspected Islamist militants armed with guns and machetes staged dawn attacks against several police bases. But the Thai authorities offered little explanation as to how only five members of the security forces were killed, compared with at least 107 of the militants.

At least 30 of the militants were killed when the Thai army mounted a three-hour siege of a historic mosque where they tried to take shelter. Soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades and tear gas into the building.

Thai forces kill 107 after 'Islamists' attack police bases

PATTANI, Thailand (AP) - Thailand sent reinforcements into the Muslim-dominated south on Thursday to guard against retaliatory attacks after suicidal raids on security outposts by Islamic militants killed 113 people in the kingdom's bloodiest carnage in years.

New criticism of the government's response to the Wednesday attacks emerged, with some families and rights groups saying that troops and police were too brutal. District officials where the violence took place said Thursday that 18 unarmed soccer players were among the dead.

Thailand Warns of More Militant Attacks

BANGKOK, April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would go ahead with his planned second trip to the country's deep south despite of the latest violence with a record-high death toll, reported the state-run Thai News Agency on Thursday.

"I still decide to make my second working trip to the south despite of the latest violence," the prime minister was quoted as saying.

He said he first wanted to visit the south on Wednesday morning,when armed men coordinately attacked 11 government places there, but postponed the plan to next week for fearing added burden to local security force.

Thaksin to visit Thai restive south