Thai police gun down at least 112 militants

POLICE gunned down machete-wielding militants who stormed security outposts in Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south yesterday, killing at least 112 people in one of the bloodiest days in the south-east Asian kingdom.

The attackers were mostly teenagers some wearing red headbands and were intent on stealing weapons. They were poorly armed and apparently unaware that police had been tipped off in advance and were lying in wait for them.

The eight hours of mayhem ended when police fired tear gas and rocket-propelled grenades into a mosque, killing 32 militants who, witnesses said, were sheltering inside after running away from an earlier battle.

"Maybe the insurgents underestimated the preparedness of security forces. They used machetes to steal guns and when we fought back they suffered big losses," Yala governor Boonyasit Suwanarat said.

It was the worst violence in a region that has seen dozens of people killed in near-daily attacks this year.

The government has blamed Islamic separatists seeking for decades to carve out a homeland in the Muslim-majority south of this predominantly Buddhist country.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the killings would halt the simmering separatist struggle in the Muslim-dominated south.

"After this, it will be hard for them to do these kind of bad things again," Mr Thaksin said.

The raids were linked to a January 4 attack on a military camp in the nearby province of Narathiwat, which triggered an upsurge of violence in the area this year, Mr Thaksin said. Four soldiers were killed and hundreds of guns stolen in that raid.

"The masterminds of this movement were in such high spirits after they raided the army camp, and they believed that they could do it again. But they were wrong," Mr Thaksin said.

He denied the attackers had connections to international terrorists, saying "most of the insurgents are youths from the southern provinces".

The pre-dawn attacks began when insurgents stormed more than 15 police bases, village defence posts and district offices in a bid to steal weapons, said Lt Gen Proong Bunphandung, chief of police for the south.

However, security forces had been tipped off and were waiting for the assailants, most of whom carried only machetes, Lt Gen Proong said.

No group claimed responsibility for the assault.

Nimu Magajae, deputy chairman of Yala Islamic Council, said he was told the attackers were drug

addicts. "This is the first time in my life that I have seen so many Muslim youths killed in one day. But if they were drug addicts we do not regard them as religious followers," he said.