Perhaps the best blog coverage of today’s horrific bomb blasts in Hat Yai is coming from the very reliable Bangkok Pundit. At least 7 5 people are dead and scores have been injured.
For a taste of Bangkok Pundit’s reporting, I have included a quote:
Hat Yai is an economic hub in Southern Thailand and major destination for Malaysian tourists. The continuing targeting of department stores and areas of commerce (yes, that includes a massage parlour) will be devastating on the economy, particularly the tourism sector. I would imagine the authorities would have expected attacks in the 3 southern border provinces and not in Hat Yai. This is just a continuation on attacks on special dates/anniversary…Tenative reports state that one of the people killed is a westerner. The NationChannel (TV) reports it is a Canadian, but this is not confirmed.
These attacks in Hat Yai suggest an escalation and expansion of what is now a long-running and bitter conflict. I hope Bangkok Pundit keeps the updates coming.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Bangkok Pundit // Sep 17, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Thanks for the link. Updates will continue throughout the day.
2 Srithanonchai // Mar 15, 2007 at 5:11 pm
About 100 Muslim women, children block Yala road
Yala – About 100 Muslim women and children staged a road blocking in a district here Thursday morning to protest and demand the government to arrest those who lobbed grenades into a mosque Wednesday night. The protesters gathered on the Yala-Patae Road in Moo 4 Village in Tambon Baroh of Yaha district at 9 am. They demanded officials to find the culprits in the mosque bomb attack at 8:30 pm Wednesday night. Eleven people were injured in the attack. The protesters also demanded to meet the Yaha district chief.
The Nation 15 March
Of course, they would never block a road to demand that the killers of the eight people in the van would be arrested–after all, the killers are supposed to be their own people. And the killed were merely Buddhists…
3 Srithanonchai // Mar 15, 2007 at 7:02 pm
In Bangkok Post (March 15), Veera Prateepchaikul asks:
Surprisingly though, human rights advocacy groups who would normally scream foul play the loudest when a Muslim was killed by government forces were completely silent over the Wednesday’s massacre. None of them joined the protests to condemn the insurgents. Did the silence amount to double standard practice?
The problem might be that those groups and individuals have for a long time seen the southern insurgency, the killings and the bombings, as a quasi-justified movement against religio-cultural suppression of Muslims by the Buddhist central Thai state. In short, the state was at fault, not the insurgents were responsible for their acts.
It now seems difficult to turn around and condemn them as radical Islamist terrorists. One thing is for sure: reconciliation does not seem to work under these conditions.
4 nganadeeleg // Mar 15, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I agree, Srithanonchai, its very disappointing – they protest anytime a muslim even gets questioned, and nobody seems to know who is committing the atrocities.
They obviously are not scared of the authorities, so on one level the ‘hearts and minds’ campaign is working, but if they dont start weeding out the extremists soon it will be too late.
I know it’s a drastic step, and the Buddhists who are forced to relocate would need compensation, but maybe the government should consider giving those provinces autonomy – let them take over the administration & security and they can see if they like living under full blown sharia law.
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