Thai Islamists Have Their Grim Milestone

Bloody mayhem is the specialty of the Thai Islamists, and they've succeeded in reaching a grim milestone of their own within the past 48 hours. They've murdered more than 3,000 Thai since they started their insurgency to create an Islamic state in the South of Thailand.

THE death toll from insurgency in Thailand’s Muslim south topped 3000 yesterday, police said, highlighting the government’s failure to stem the unrest after more than four years.

A wave of deadly attacks across the violence-racked south killed five people yesterday alone, as Thailand’s new government struggles to come to grips with the separatist violence that erupted in early 2004 in the region bordering Malaysia.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow, while Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung admitted on Tuesday he had “no idea” how to curb the unrest, which has claimed 3004 lives.

Srawut Aree, a professor of Muslim studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said the government has made little progress in easing the violence because it has failed to identify any of the militancy’s leadership.

“The problem is the government still cannot recognise real actors behind violent attacks,” Srawut said. “Militants have never issued statements or claimed responsibility.”

While the previous military government launched a raft of peace-building measures, including an apology to Muslims for past abuses, the shootings and bomb attacks continued to rock the region almost daily.

Two militants shot dead a 72-year-old Buddhist grocer yesterday at his store in Yala, one of three provinces roiled by violence, police said. The two men fled, but were stopped at a nearby military checkpoint where they were killed in a 10-minute gun fight.

The government tried to crack down on the Islamists, but the government was toppled and the new government attempted appeasement and failed - the violence actually intensified. So, they're back to trying force to quell the insurgency.