RI extremists influencing Thai Muslims: Thaksin

RI extremists influencing Thai Muslims: Thaksin

Rungrawee C. Pinyorat, Associated Press/Bangkok

Militants behind the ongoing violence in Thailand's Muslim-
majority far south have been indoctrinated by extremists in
nearby Indonesia, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on
Saturday.

Separately, police tried to quell concerns that major attacks
have been planned to take place around the country -- including
in the capital Bangkok -- early next month.

Police anticipate some small attacks to mark the first
anniversary of a Jan. 4 insurgent raid on a Thai army camp in
Narathiwat province, said police Lt. Gen. Jumphon Manmai,
director of the National Intelligence Bureau. Four soldiers died
and hundreds of weapons were seized in the Jan. 4 assault.

Nevertheless, there's no indication that large-scale attacks
in Bangkok and the south have been planned as cited in some news
reports, Jumphon said.

The prime minister, meanwhile, repeated earlier charges that
some Thai militants -- fighting for an independent Muslim state
in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat --
were trained in neighboring Malaysia and in Islamic schools in
southern Thailand, and had been brainwashed by Indonesian
militants.

"These strange acts have been learned from extremists in
Indonesia. Many are students who have studied religion in
Indonesia," Thaksin said in his weekly radio address.

Most Thais are Buddhist, but the majority of people in the
south are Muslims. Some complain of discrimination by the central
government.

More than 550 people have died this year in the southern
insurgency, that some contend is fueled by support from Malaysia
-- which borders the troubled provinces - and Indonesia, home to
more Muslims than any other country in the world.

Thaksin's government has been criticized at home and abroad
for using heavy-handed tactics to dampen the smoldering
insurgency.

At least 85 Muslims died Oct. 25 when security forces
dispersed a protest in Narathiwat's Tak Bai district. Most of the
demonstrators suffocated or were crushed to death after being
packed into military trucks.

"The high death toll clearly indicates that there was
wrongdoing in the ways authorities handled the Muslim
protesters," said Pichet Sunthornpipit, who chaired a government
committee investigating the Tak Bai deaths.

In its report, the committee noted which government agencies
should be held responsible for the tragedy, but said it was up to
the government to decide if individuals should be prosecuted,
Pichet told reporters Saturday.

Pichet did, however, say that up to 10 individuals were
responsible for handling the protest. He singled out Lt. Gen.
Pisarn Wattanawongkhiri, the former army chief for the region,
Lt. Gen. Wongkot Maneerin, the assistant national police chief,
and Siva Saengmanee, deputy director of a special task force
handling the southern violence.

He refused to give other details of the report.