Killings open new front for terrorism

By GRAHAM REID

Tourists heading for Thailand's white-sand beaches or the dense jungles of the Golden Triangle seldom spend much time reading the Bangkok Post. But if they do, every day they will find reports about the volatile southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Songhkla and Narathiwat, which rub shoulders with northern Malaysia.

From here come frequent accounts of violent unrest among Muslims and reports that police, soldiers and security personnel have been shot. More than 400 people have been killed this year in waves of unrest by Muslims who feel marginalised in a Buddhist country and are increasingly turning to violence to make their point.

That violence has become more organised and raises the spectre of an Islamic uprising , fuelled by the internationalism of a jihad.

In January, Islamic militants attacked an army camp and seized 400 weapons. In April hundreds of suspected militants launched a series of attacks on security posts. The Thai Government's response was typically ruthless and ended in the death of more than 100 militants.

This week events took on a more ominous character. Yesterday, a bomb wounded two people at a food stall in Yala.

On Monday, about 80 Muslim demonstrators died in police custody while being ferried in army trucks. It is believed they suffocated while bound and piled on top of one another.

The tragedy added fuel to Muslim anger. On the same day, militants shot and wounded six people in drive-by attacks - interpreted as the militants showing they were not afraid of authorities.

The violence, already being called a "massacre" by Muslim spokesmen, began when 1500 demonstrators gathered at a district police station in Takbai, Narathiwat, to protest at the detention of six men accused of providing weapons to militants.

Six demonstrators were killed and others forced into the trucks.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been unsympathetic: "They really set out to cause trouble so we had to take drastic action against them." In a provocative comment, he also blamed the unrest on the Muslim festival of Ramadan: "This is typical. It's about bodies made weak from fasting. Nobody hurt them."

Yet Thaksin, who has said he will not countenance separatists, has also been playing a conciliatory game: while martial law has been imposed the regions have also had millions of dollars of development aid pumped in.

Thaksin, who faces an election this year, knows the political and economic problems of the region need to be resolved. The six million Muslims - about 10 per cent of the population - living in these southern states do not enjoy the relative prosperity of the central provinces which are rich in farmland and make millions from tourism.

Many speak Yawi, a Malay dialect. Thailand annexed the area a century ago but the people still feel more in common with Malaysia.

The drive for autonomy now appears to have links with the radical organisation Jeemaah Islamiah, given weight by the nature of the attacks on police and security posts. They were by young men in what seemed to be suicide attacks. Many carried a booklet about the virtues of martyrdom.

Terrorism may have found a new frontline. Chairman of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat, Abdulraman Abdulsamad said he was in shock at events this week in Narathiwat but could not predict what might happen next. "But I believe that hell will break out."