Police in South think attack on office in Pattani was by insurgent youth wing
A senior police officer overseeing security in the South yesterday said militants behind the recent attack on a local government building in Pado village in which six people died were from a well-trained youth wing able to attack and retreat rapidly.
Deputy commissioner of the Ninth Police Region Maj-General Thani Thawidsri said the wing, commonly referred to as Bermudor, meaning "Youth" in Malay, were daring in their attacks. He said the young men had not reached the level of "commando" within the movement and did not engage in fierce gunfights with government security forces."One on one, they wouldn't be able to take on the government's forces," Thani said. Thani admitted it had been difficult to track down the Bermudor, saying even the parents of the young men did not know about their activities. Five people were killed on Thursday when at least 10 Bermudor members riddled Pattani's Ma Yor district-office building with automatic rifles and shotguns. An officer later died in hospital. As in other hit-and-run attacks, spikes were left on the road to slow down chasing security forces. While the Bermudor are known to move rapidly, the scope of their attacks is limited to their own areas. Organisationally they belong to small cells of about 10 people who live in more or less the same area. Thani said it had been difficult to pin them down because they found it easy to move from one area to another and blend in with other youths. One positive development, he said, was that more and more local residents were coming forward and providing information about the militants' identities and activities as there was a clearer understanding that government officials were on the side of the people. Thai intelligence officials said most of the Bermudor were members of a new generation of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), a grass-roots separatist group that emerged in the late 1960s when Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat dissolved traditional Islamic boarding schools, perhaps the most important institution in the Malay-speaking region. The movement died down about a decade ago following a blanket amnesty, but a new generation resurfaced in late 2001 and took over the name. Meanwhile Interior Minister ACM Kongsak Wantana said yesterday the government would provide all needed assistance to family members of the six dead officials. The Nation Pattani
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