Thai insurgents get weapons, trained with Indonesian militants: General
Thai insurgents get weapons, trained with Indonesian militants: General
Sutin Wannabovorn, Associated Press/Bangkok
Thai Muslim insurgents have stockpiled more than 7,000 firearms
and trained with Indonesian militants to wreak violence in
southern Thailand, a former regional army commander said on
Monday.
Retired Army Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya, who was praised for
maintaining the peace in southern Thailand during the 1990s and
has been a security adviser to the current administration, said
the government's mishandling of the situation could cause it to
deteriorate.
"There is still no light at the end of the tunnel. Eighteen
months after the government started deploying massive numbers of
troops into the region, the situation is getting worse," Kitti
told the Associated Press.
"The separatist movement has complete control of the people.
Only the land belongs to us, but the people belong to the
movement, 100 percent."
A decades-old Muslim separatist movement in the deep south of
Thailand died down in the late-1980s after the government granted
an arms amnesty.
The violence surged again early last year, resulting in more
than 880 deaths during the past 18 months.
The southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala are
the only Muslim majority areas in predominantly Buddhist
Thailand. Southerners have long complained of discrimination in
education and jobs.
Kitti said the separatists have stockpiled more than 7,000
guns, many of which have been stolen from the army and police,
including in an attack on an army camp that launched the latest
wave of attacks.
A group of armed men on Jan. 4, 2004, stormed a camp in
Narathiwat, killing four soldiers and stealing more than 400
weapons, mostly assault rifles. The raid prompted the government
to deploy more than 50,000 soldiers in the region.
Kitti cited intelligence sources as saying that at least seven
Indonesian Muslim militants have gone to the south to provide
military training for the Thai insurgents.
"Things are getting worse because the government doesn't
accept the fact that this is a movement of terrorists and
separatists," he said.
Downplaying the adviser's remarks, Defense Minister Thammarak
Isarangura said the situation is under control, and that locals
will be trained to defend themselves against the militants.
"The situation is calming down, and in some areas, daily
attacks on innocent people have decreased by 50 percent,"
Thammarak said.
Regional police statistics show from January to June 20, there
were at least 207 deaths and 601 people injured from hit-and-run
attacks by gunmen on motorcycles, bombings and beheadings.
Thammarak said the troops that have been deployed have been
unable to fight the insurgency effectively because they are
trained to fight in the jungle, not in cities and villages.
"We will train the local people to be defense volunteers to
replace the regular forces, and the soldiers will gradually
withdraw from the region," he said.