தாய்லாந்தில் முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகளால் 2 பௌத்தர்கள் கொலை. 11 பேர் படுகாயம்

தெற்கு தாய்லாந்தில் முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகள் 2 பௌத்த மதத்தை சார்ந்த பொதுமக்களை துப்பாக்கியால் சுட்டு கொன்றார்கள். மற்றொரு இடத்தில் குண்டு வீசியதில் 11 பொதுமக்களும் பல போலீஸ் காரர்களும் காயமடைந்தார்கள்.

தாய்லாந்தில் முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகளால் இதுவரை 2200 பேர்கள் இது போல கொல்லப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள்.

தாய்லாந்தில் முஸ்லீம்கள் பெருமளவில் இருக்கும் தெற்கு பிராந்தியத்திலிருந்து பௌத்தர்களை மிரட்டி ஓட வைப்பதற்காக இவ்வாறு பொதுமக்களை குறிவைத்து கொல்கிறார்கள் என்று கூறுகிறார்கள்.


நன்றி க்வாய்ட் டைம்ஸ்

Two shot dead, bomb injures 11 in Thailand
Published Date: May 21, 2007
PATTANI: Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand fatally shot two Buddhist civilians and wounded a third yesterday, while a bomb wounded 11 persons including five policemen, police said.

The casualties were the latest apparent victims of an Islamic separatist insurgency in Thailand's three southernmost provinces _ the only provinces with Muslim majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. More than 2,200 people have died as a result of the unrest since January 2004.

One of Sunday's fatalities was a 22-year-old driver for a construction company in Pattani province, said police Col. Thawan Narawong. His attackers shot him at his work site then set fire to his body and the truck he had been driving, the police officer said.

In Yala province, a gunman on the back seat of a motorcycle shot a 51-year-old woman and her 17-year-old son as they were riding her motorcycle to a rubber plantation, police Lt. Col. Somporn Toharb said. The woman was pronounced dead at a hospital while the her son was seriously wounded, he said.

Police said they believed the attacks were part of an effort by insurgents to scare Buddhists into fleeing the region.

The bombing took place at a grocery shop in a market in Narathiwat province's Waeng district, said police Lt. Thosphol Saingam. He identified the wounded as five policemen, two defense volunteers and four civilians.

Meanwhile, up to 3,000 people took to the streets of Bangkok yesterday to protest against Thailand's military junta and call for early elections in the kingdom, organisers and the police said.

The demonstrators, who were rallying against a coup last September, gathered at Sanam Luang plaza in central Bangkok in the early evening before peacefully marching to the Democracy Monument a few kilometres (miles) away.

"The demonstration is to show that we do not agree with coup and to kick out the junta," said one of the rally's organisers, Nattawut Saikuar, who is a supporter of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

He urged the junta to hold elections as early as possible. The military-installed government has promised polls for the end of the year.
Nattawut said 5,000 people joined the demonstration, but police estimated the figure at about 3,000.

Police major general Manit Wongsomboon said that six hundred police officers were posted at Sanam Luang, while 300 police stood guard at the Democracy Monument.

Nobody was arrested and there was no violence, he said.

Yesterday's protest came as Thai authorities appeared to be cracking down on dissent, detaining three supporters of Thaksin on Friday and closing three radio stations that broadcast statements by the ousted leader.

Demonstrations against the junta are also becoming more frequent, with a similar protest at the end of April attracting at least 4,000 people.

The protest movement is also beginning to create an odd coalition of allies, with some pro-democracy groups, which last year demonstrated against Thaksin, now joining forces with his allies in protesting against the junta. - Agencies