Thailand: Schools targeted in bomb attacks

Suspected Muslim insurgents launched simultaneous attacks across four provinces in southern Thailand, killing six and wounding at least 50, an army spokesman said.

The attacks yesterday evening were the first time the insurgents have struck all four of the enflamed provinces – Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla – at the same time, said army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote.

Triggered by digital watches, 29 bombs rocked the predominantly Muslim deep south, most of them set to explode between 7.15pm and 8pm, he said. The targets were karaoke lounges, hotels, schools, petrol stations and power grids.

Three people of Chinese descent were gunned down while celebrating Chinese New Year in Pattani, another person was shot and killed in Narathiwat, while bombs at a karaoke parlour in the tourist town of Betong on the Malaysian border killed two others, Akara said.

Four of the 50 injured were in critical condition, he said.

The violence near the Malaysian border continued this morning when a homemade bomb killed a Thai army officer near his home in Yala province and wounded a seven-year-old boy, provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Phaitoon Chuchaiya said.

“The separatist movement aimed to damage the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year celebration, through which they can also damage the economy of the country,” Akara said.

He said the rebels also wanted to show the international community that the Bangkok government could not control the situation in southern Thailand, thus underlining the rebels’ legitimacy as separatists.

Violence in the south has been escalating in recent months despite a major policy shift by the military-imposed government, which is trying to replace an earlier iron-fisted approach in dealing with the rebels with a “hearts and minds” campaign.

More than 2,000 people have died in the four provinces since the insurgency erupted in 2004, fuelled by accusations of decades of misrule by the central government. The insurgents have not announced their goals, but are believed to be fighting for a separate state imbued with radical Islamic ideology.

Military reports said that 17 bombs went off in Yala, the worst-hit province, including seven in the border town of Betong, which attracts Malaysians, Singaporeans and other foreign tourists to its many entertainment venues. The tourist town of Sungai Kolok, along the Thai-Malaysian border in Narathiwat province, was also attacked.

A sizable number of yesterday’s bombings were against karaoke lounges, which are regarded as decadent by the Islamic rebels. At least two schools were burned down.

Two explosions tore through power stations in Pattani province, causing blackouts in several areas, said Pattani police Maj. Gen. Kokiat Wongworachart.

Akara said there was no need to declare a curfew since security forces were able to control the situation in a short period of time.