High profile incidents South Thailand insurgency

1 high profile incidents

1.1 krue se mosque incident
1.2 tak bai incident
1.3 2009 thailand standoff

high profile incidents
krue se mosque incident

on 28 april 2004, more 100 militants carried out terrorist attacks against 10 police outposts across pattani, yala, , songkhla provinces in south thailand. thirty-two gunmen retreated 425-year-old krue se mosque, regarded muslims holiest mosque in pattani.

general pallop pinmanee, commander of southern peace enhancement center , deputy director of internal security operations command, senior army officer on scene. after tense seven-hour stand-off, pallop ordered all-out assault on mosque. of gunmen killed. later insisted, had no choice. afraid time passed crowd sympathetic insurgents, point of trying rescue them .

it later revealed pallop s order storm mosque contravened direct order defense minister chavalit yongchaiyudh seek peaceful resolution stand-off no matter how long took. pallop ordered out of area, , later tendered resignation commander of southern peace enhancement center. forward command of internal security operations command (isoc), pallop headed, dissolved. government investigative commission found security forces had over-reacted. asian centre human rights questioned independence , impartiality of investigative commission. on 3 may 2004 during senate hearing, senator kraisak choonhavan noted of killed @ krue se mosque had been shot in head , there signs ropes had been tied around wrists, suggesting had been executed after being captured.

the incident resulted in personal conflict between pallop , defense minister chavalit, director of isoc. pallop later demanded defence minister cease involvement in management of southern insurgency.

tak bai incident

in october 2004 town of tak bai in narathiwat province saw publicised incident of insurgency. 6 local men arrested having supplied weapons insurgents. demonstration organised demand release , police called in army reinforcements. army used tear gas , water cannons on crowd, , shooting started in 7 men killed.

hundreds of local people, young men, arrested. made take off shirts , lie on ground. hands tied behind backs. later afternoon, thrown soldiers trucks taken ingkayutthaboriharn army camp in nearby province of pattani. prisoners stacked 5 or 6 deep in trucks, , time trucks reached destination 5 hours later, in heat of day, 78 men had died of suffocation.

this incident sparked widespread protests across south, , across thailand, non-muslim thais appalled @ army s behaviour. thaksin, however, gave army full support. responsible ill-treatment , death of detainees received minor of non-custodial punishments. thaksin s initial response defend army s actions, saying 78 men died because weak fasting during month of ramadan .

charges filed against 58 suspects accused of participating in demonstration case dropped in november 2006 not public , might affect national security .

on 2 november 2006, prime minister surayud chulanont gave formal apology incident. caused large rise in violent incidents next day.

2009 thailand standoff

this standoff between insurgents , thai police , military took place in yala, thailand on 27 june 2009 @ 7:55 local time. combined force of 200 district police officers , soldiers of taskforce 15 sealed off house in bannang sata district of yala province after locals tipped them of presence of separatist militants.

as police , army stormed building, militants holed inside opened fire, killing sgt maj pongsathorn niraphai of bannang sata police station , sergeant major 3rd class sangsun kalong, 39, soldier. suspected militant, sopepun buenae, 26 killed when tried escape. @ least 2 rebels managed escape despite being cornered 5 hours.

during preceding weeks, attacks separatists had increased; 41 people killed , 60 wounded in june alone. earlier in june, masked gunmen killed 11 worshippers in mosque in narathiwat province. incident, wounded 12 people considered 1 of worst attacks in 5 years. $5,900 reward leads on attack announced.