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DEEP SOUTH: Militants blame PM for Tak Bai
Published on June 15, 2005
Effigies of Thaksin and fake bombs left near messages painted in Narathiwat
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has become the latest target of militants’ psychological-warfare campaign in the deep South.
Militants yesterday left spray-painted messages at five public places in Narathiwat’s Waeng district accusing Thaksin of being responsible for the deadly crackdown on protesters in Tak Bai district last October.
At each location a Thaksin effigy, a flag and a cardboard box containing a fake bomb were placed along side the message.
“Thaksin is the real culprit for killing more than 100 innocent victims at Tak Bai and a score of Islamic teachers and Muslim youths - he incites the unrest,” the notes said.
Responding to the messages, Thaksin described the violence in the South as an aberration that would go away with time.
“Things can happen and finish,” he said. “I am not worried if the southern insurgents want to undermine my office.”
The continuing cycle of violence in the region claimed another victim yesterday when assistant village headman Matohe Batuseng was shot dead by an unidentified gunman riding pillion in Narathiwat’s Bacho district.
Matohe was leaving his home to tap rubber before dawn when the gunman opened fire.
In a separate incident, village defence volunteer Da-o Kano was killed by two assailants in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district.
Da-o was taking his cattle to graze when the assailants shot him four times at close range.
In Yala’s Yaha district, the bomb squad defused a bomb planted in a car belonging to Senior Sgt-Major Posu Deemae. Posu, deployed with a Border Patrol Police taskforce, said he noticed an electrical wire and a suspicious-looking box on one of his car’s front wheels as he was about to get into the vehicle to go to work.
The car was parked overnight near his home.
In Pattani, the Fourth Army officials held a press conference yesterday to warn the public against holding rallies aimed at pressuring police to release suspects.
“Unruly behaviour to make a demand on police is against the law and an unruly public gathering is called a mob, which is punishable by law,” military spokesman Colonel Akom Pongphrom said.
Akom said a recent rally in Pattani’s Sai Buri district could have deteriorated into bloodshed like the Tak Bai incident if crowd-control measures had failed. He urged residents not to fall prey to insurgency propaganda that accuses police of making arrests without cause, warning them that they faced up to five years in jail if found guilty of obstruction of justice. |
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