quote:
By Nopporn Wong-Anan
Reuters
Thursday, October 27, 2005; 4:07 AM
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Five villagers and two militants were killed overnight in southern Thailand when Muslim separatist insurgents launched about 50 raids on remote villages in the restive region, the army said on Thursday.
The newly appointed army chief -- the first Muslim to hold the position -- responded by telling troops to be on extra alert over the following week as the Muslim fasting month of Ramandan draws to a close.
"October 29 to early November is a very sacred part of Ramadan when those who die will go to heaven. Therefore, they will stir a lot of unrest, and we have to be on extra alert," General Sonthi Boonyaratglin told reporters.
Most of the Wednesday night attacks targeted members of civilian militias created by the government to counter a 22-month insurgency that has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the three southernmost provinces and rattled foreign governments and investors.
"The attacks came at around 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. while all the men were praying at mosques. They left shotguns with their families at home," Colonel Acra Tiprote of the southern Army command told Reuters by telephone.
"We are hunting for the suspects with lots of help from villagers, both Buddhists and Muslims."
About 90 weapons, mostly government-issued shotguns, were stolen while three militants were captured alive, the army said.
The attacks across the far south, which borders mostly Muslim Malaysia, came a day after the first anniversary of a bloody demonstration in which 78 Muslim protesters died in army custody.
According to police figures from last year, Ramadan saw a spike in the level of violence against both civilian and government targets -- both Buddhist and Muslim.
The government in largely Buddhist Thailand has flooded the region with 30,000 troops and police and imposed martial law, but the measures have made no dent in the campaign of daily shootings, bombings and arson attacks.
The far south, where 80 percent of people are Muslim, ethnic Malay and non-Thai speaking, was an independent Muslim sultanate until formally annexed by Bangkok a century ago. The region has a long history of anti-Thai feeling.
Kunnen ze zich nu nergens gedragen?
Wat er in heilige boeken geschreven staat is niet belangrijk, aan de vruchten herkent men de boom.