Six dead in crackdown on rioters

An Islamic leader accused Thai troops of overreacting in a crackdown on rioters that left six people dead, while a military commander said 1,300 people were arrested in the rioting in Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra praised his security forces and vowed tough action against suspected Islamic separatists accused of waging an insurgency in the southern provinces near Malaysia.

But Abdulraman Abudulsamad, chairman of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat province, said security forces should have acted with greater restraint.

The latest violence erupted after an estimated 2,000 Muslim youths demonstrated outside a police station in Narathiwat province’s Takbai district to demand the release of six detained men.

Police and military forces tried to disperse the crowd with gunshots, water cannons and tear gas canisters. Six people were killed and several injured, army commander General Pisarn Wattanawongkhiri said.

About 1,300 people were arrested in the rioting and some of the detained had firearms, said General Sirichai Thanyasiri, who heads a new security task force in the area.

“The leaders and core members who created the riot will be put on trial and the unwitting followers will be released soon, but I cannot say exactly when,” he said.

Southern Thai Muslims remain anguished over the massacre earlier this year of 32 alleged militants at a historic 16th century mosque in the southern province of Pattani, he said.

The 32 were among 107 people killed on April 28 when heavily armed troops retaliated for a series of early-morning assaults by Islamic militants.

“The memory is still fresh, and with the latest killings, I am afraid that the there will be more violence and revenge from Muslim people,” Abdulraman said.

Thaksin, who travelled to the scene of this week’s violence before returning to Bangkok, said the crackdown was justified.

“We cannot allow these people to harass innocent people and authorities any longer ... we have no choice but to use force to suppress them,” Thaksin said.

Authorities announced a curfew in eight districts of Narathiwat after the violence “because the situation is still volatile,” Thaksin said.

The rioters were demanding the release of six men detained on suspicion of stealing state-issued weapons from defence volunteers, though officials said the suspects had already been transferred to the provincial capital.

Southern Muslims have long complained of discrimination, particularly in jobs and education.

Since January, more than 360 people have been killed in the area in attacks blamed mostly on suspected insurgents. Authorities have blamed the bombings and drive-by shootings on a renewed separatist insurgency.

Separatists operated in the area for decades before largely disbanding in the 1980s.