Narathiwat – A Buddhist woman was gunned down apparently by Muslim insurgents in this southern border province Saturday. Ratana Kwanjai, 42, was shot and killed in her rubber plantation in Tambon Kaluwor of Muang district. She suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Police found eight M16 and AK-47 spent shells at the scene. The Nation
YALA (Thailand) – Suspected Muslim insurgents shot dead three people in Thailand’s restive south on Saturday in two separate incidents, police said, the latest violence in the troubled region bordering Malaysia. A soldier was gunned down in an ambush while riding a motorbike to a military base in Yala province. In neighbouring Pattani, a Buddhist […]
Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said yesterday the ministry could not terminate the four oil exploration concessions off the resort island of Samui as the concession-holders are not conducting any practices that breach the law or cause serious environmental damage. His remarks came after Samui residents protested against the concessions out of concern about the economic […]
Narathiwat: Even as debate rages in India on how to upgrade madrassa education system, Thailand has reformed its ‘pondoks’ or seminaries by teaching modern subjects like English, Mathematics, Science and IT along with Arabic and Islamic studies. “There is no government interference in Islamic teachings. It is just that we’ve included secular subjects like Science, […]
Dramatic Island Protest Against Exploration, Court Battle Threatened SURAT THANI : Tens of thousands of protesters yesterday formed a human link around Koh Samui to show their opposition to four oil exploration projects, heralding what they say could lead to a protracted legal battle. The protesters, made up of villagers, students, environmental advocates, tourist operators […]
Bangkok – Thousands of Thais formed a human chain on Samui island over the weekend to protest a government concession to explore for oil 42 kilometres offshore. Villagers, students, fishermen, tour operators, hoteliers and environmentalists lined the 52-kilometre ring road on Saturday, the Bangkok Post reported. Some of the protestors held up posters depicting the […]
Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces in the Thai south are the three provinces that have been dogged by decades of insurgencies launched by groups allegedly linked to foreign terrorist organizations. Although the number of insurgent attacks has gone down since 2006, insurgencies in the south have continued to draw the attention of Muslim-majority countries as […]
The Thai government and its top military commanders overseeing counterinsurgency operations in its restive southern Muslim provinces have ruled out the presence of al-Qaeda or jihadi tendencies, saying the rebellion is essentially local and has no affiliations with global terrorism. “For a terrorist group like al-Qaeda Thailand is a very small target. The rebellion in […]
