Bombs: Thailand vows offensive

2005-11-08 13:47

Yala - Thailand on Tuesday vowed to pursue its offensive against Islamic militants as two bombs rocked provincial government buildings in the restive south following a night of deadly gun attacks.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was satisfied with the incidents. "Many were arrested. We have to continue our work. Next time it's our turn to be more offensive," he said.

Two bombs rocked Yala province on Tuesday, slightly injuring a government official. The bombs, which were placed under cars, hit a Yala provincial education office and a car park behind the provincial hall.

On Monday at least five people, including two militants, were killed in 14 co-ordinated attacks in Yala, one of the three violence-plagued mainly Muslim southern provinces.

Deadly attacks

Also during the night, the managing director of the local Thongtin Thai newspaper was shot dead in Narathiwat province, police said.

Abdulloh Mama, 37, was shot five times in the town of Sungai Kolok by gunmen who had followed him in a pick-up truck. He was pronounced dead at hospital a short time later.

"Police have established two possible motives for the killing. Either it was a personal conflict or part of the unrest," said police colonel Somsak Rommayanon.

The attacks came just hours after Thaksin left the region. He had visited the provincial capital of Narathiwat on Monday to officiate at Buddhist ceremonies, and vowed to boost security for monks by installing a system of sirens in the region.

Thaksin said on Tuesday that security authorities were able quickly to respond to Monday's attacks thanks to tip-offs by local villagers.

"Yes, in some attacks, officials learned beforehand from the villagers, who co-operated well with the government," the premier said, adding the government would issue more arrest warrants for suspected militants.

Goals shifted

Thaksin also argued that militants had shifted their goal from winning a separate province to pushing him out of office.

"Based on the people who have listened to a recent meeting of extremists in Kelantan (in Malaysia), they only criticised me. So they have shifted their goal from carrying out separatist movements to attacking me," he said.

Violence in the three Muslim-majority provinces of mainly Buddhist Thailand has killed more than 1 000 people since January 2004.

Authorities blame the almost daily attacks in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces on Islamic separatist militants, organised criminals and local corruption.

- AFP