The number of people injured in the bomb attacks on Tuesday afternoon at the Big C in southern Thailand has now risen to 61, many of them children. Police are examining CCTV footage to identify the four perpetrators.
The first bomb exploded: at the entrance to the site next to Nong Chik Road. The second bomb exploded in a pickup truck parked in front of the main entrance.
Police are still looking for the owner of the pickup truck. According to his wife, he had gone to Pattani to sell canvas, but she has not heard from him since. Police believe the car was stolen.
The attack has no consequences for the progress of the peace talks with the southern rebels. However, security measures in the South will be tightened.
Do not travel to the four southern provinces
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises tourists not to travel to the four southern provinces (Yale, Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla).
Since 2004 there have been regular attacks in the 4 southern provinces. These are bomb attacks, arson attacks and assassinations of the country's administrators. Increasingly, civilians are also victims. Since 2011, the number of attacks has been increasing. There are (fatal) victims almost every day. More than 2004 people have died since 7.000. A small proportion of these people come from abroad. If you do travel in these provinces, avoid the train.
Source: Bangkok Post
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It's terrible... what's the point of those massacres. Killing innocent people, especially children. Does everything always have to be done by force?
I find it deeply sad that this is happening. Not only in Thailand, but all over the world, where such, in my view, senseless acts of violence take place.
Bah…
Quite simply, those are Muslim provinces
Give them away.
Terrible to hear this in the news again. Although much is still unclear, four perpetrators are wanted. The signs suggest that it is again about Muslim extremists. We will probably have to look in that corner. Their goal is to spread fear and this can be at the expense of anyone. The world must become a Muslim country according to many Muslim fanatics and everything can be used for that. Also and often you see this happening, other Muslim people are victims. Everything for a good cause is their motto. There have been so many incidents with injuries and deaths that in my opinion it is wise to stay away from those affected areas as well. We foreigners and non-Muslims certainly have no business there. Although there will be people who contradict me and also have girlfriend, family, etc. living there and who state that they never notice or experience anything. Luckily I think so, but I'm not going there. I'm pretty mild-mannered, but I'm getting more and more fed up with those Muslim fanatics. Tackling this group is one of the most important things in the world if we want to be reasonably protected from these kinds of attacks or worse. You also see the hardening in Indonesia where the governor was sentenced for two years because he had said that Muslim people could also vote for non-Muslim people like him and that there was no prohibition for this in the Quran. This would have been so grievous that there was a popular uprising and thus this punishment was handed out. Closing churches, silencing people, all forms of indoctrination and that will only get worse. Long live the (Muslim) faith and all who will suffer from it.
These kinds of attacks are despicable. It has been relatively quiet in southern Thaland for years, but due to the arrogant and especially heavy-handed action of Thaksin Sinawatra, things escalated considerably around 2004.
See: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/opinion/thaksin-and-the-south-thailand-only-feeds-muslim-discontent.html?_r=0
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2004/11/thai-n26.html
Nowadays, I'm somehow afraid to watch the news on TV or read the newspaper.
Such things have become commonplace, and in 99% of cases, always from the same population group. Personally, I am against judging any group because of, be it race - skin color - language - sexual orientation - religion - origin or whatever, but if respect is not mutual, the balloon will not go up. Banning Zwarte Piet, imposing Burkini and killing innocents is abhorrent !!!
If this opinion made me look Islamophobic, so be it!
My pity and sympathy go out to the all too numerous victims of these fanatics.
Bona.
I rode my scooter along the Big C the day before. Terrible that such a public and popular place for shopping turns into a bloodbath a day later.
Terrible what has been happening in the Deep South for years if not many decades, thousands dead and tens of thousands injured. No solution in sight. However, it has nothing or very little to do with Muslim fundamentalism or terrorism and much more with a desire for one's own state or autonomy. The Thai state (Thaksin's performance, for example) also plays a very questionable role in this and both parties have a lot of butter on their heads.
See:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/conflict-opstand-het-zuiden/
The link that Bert Schimmel mentions above also provides good information.
Taksin should no longer play a role in this.
The owner of the pickup has been found: Terrible. Horrible Hands tied behind the back, feet tied together and headless. His ID card and other personal belongings were thrown out of a car by a masked man.
His wife and other family are obviously completely devastated, they need constant medical attention.
One less witness!
A person has been arrested who is suspected.
Source Thai TV all news channels,
In my opinion, the advice to avoid the train is incomplete for travelers who want to travel cheaply and without flying from/to Malaysia. The alternative is the bus or minivan and they all have (as far as I know/experienced) a transfer at the Hat Yai (Songkhla) bus terminal. Here Malaysian vehicles take over from the Thai (or vice-versa) and that is always hours of collecting and waiting. There have been several attacks in and around that bus terminal in the past. The train, on the other hand, either continues or has a fairly direct transfer.
From Hat Yai minivans – Thai, not Malaysian – drive to the border towns of Padang Besar, Dannok, Ban Prakob (all Songkhla) Betong (Yala) and Sungai Kolok (Narathiwat). Hat Yai itself is not a border town, but you can also enter Malaysia by boat to Malaysia, or at Wang Prachan (Satun) by land through "safe" area.
Not so long ago, Catholics and Protestants also killed each other, for example in Northern Ireland. I don't think that peaceful Catholics or Protestants have to answer for it all the time by rejecting it. Every sane person rejects this violence. And don't forget most of the victims of the bombings in the south are themselves innocent Muslims. Do you think they are cheering now?
well
7000 dead and then the number of wounded……… why, why why.
Only because they want those provinces to be part of Malaysia.
If the government of Thailand decides to do so, new provinces will come with bomb attacks again, because they should also attack Malaysia, until Chang Rai is eventually incorporated.
India and Pakistan once made a selection, Muslims to Pakistan and Hindus to India.
Maybe do one here too.
In Malaysia? It is about autonomy or return to the borders of what was the Sultanate of Pattani, now divided between Thailand and Malaysia. That the southerners would want all of Thailand is just as sensible as claiming that the Basques will soon control all of Spain or the Kurds all of Turkey and Iraq. It has almost nothing to do with Islam.
Bert and Tino provide some background information in their responses. Or this earlier piece on TB:
http://www.thailandblog.nl/achtergrond/conflict-ops
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(...)
No one is spared, not the Buddhists, not the Muslims and not the security forces. The violence is chaotic and there seems to be no end in sight despite the many troops and militia units in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. How did it come to this and what are the possible solutions?
Pattani was a powerful empire
The kingdom (later sultanate) of Pattani dates back to the 13th century when it was a powerful trade-based empire and a center of Islamic scholarship. A proud nation. It consisted of the three southern provinces of Thailand and the three northern provinces of what is now Malaysia. It has paid tribute to the Siamese king since the 15th century, although Siam never actually ruled the area.
From the 16th century, the area became a plaything for commercial interests of the Dutch, English and Siamese and lost much of its prestige. For example, in 1786 Siam plundered Pattani. In 1909, the area was split up by a British-Siamese treaty: the three northern provinces mentioned above became part of Siam and the three southern provinces became part of then British Malaysia.
It was only after the end of absolute monarchy in Siam in 1932, and increasingly during the ultra-nationalist rule of Plaeg Phiboensongkraam (1938-1944), that Thai Buddhists began to settle in the south. Thai was promoted, Malay and the local dress were actively discouraged, and the local elite were replaced by Thai-Buddhists, a process known as "internal colonization" that continued under the subsequent monarchy.
(...)
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Nice piece of history, but those who delve into Islam a bit will soon discover that Muslims are not so much interested in appropriating a piece of land here and there, no, they want one big caliphate from the whole world where Sharia rules all facets of life. So both extremist and moderate Muslims are pursuing the same goal!
If you visit Spain, you can find in the history of a number of large cities (Cordoba, Seville, Granada) that Catholics, Muslims and Jews lived side by side in peace for decades. Quite apart from recent history in the Netherlands where the same has been the case since the 60s. You listen too much to callers like Wilders, but you are absolutely not critical. Your reasoning is just bullshit.
'the Islam' does not exist any more than 'the Christianity' or 'the Dutchman'. It is not for nothing that there are all kinds of currents in the religions. All with their own interpretation of what the right way is. A small part of the Muslims does indeed have the peculiar interpretation that there should be a caliphate, but there too you see a difference of opinion whether that should be 'only' where we now see IS or whether in the long term everything and everyone will become Muslims. must convert under a global caliphate. The average Muslim has no evil plans to subjugate the world. They might not mind if the whole world were Muslim, any more than a Christian would mind if the whole world is Christian. That part of the Muslims believe in a Muslim state, and a part of the Jews in the Jewish state, etc. is evident. But it is too bizarre for words to extend that to dominating the world.
Or would the moderate Christians and moderate Jews and moderate Buddhists also secretly be on the absolute subjection of man to the true (own) faith? Thinking in terms like 'extremist and moderate' is crazy. Religions can be quite annoying, even unwanted, if they want to impose their way of life on others. I am not happy with moderate Christians who would like to see that same-sex marriage is not allowed because their god would not like gays, just to name a side street. All religions potentially have a risk that dissenters are screwed, but fortunately most people know some humane values such as tolerance/respect towards other religions. It is certainly not a cake and egg in most 'Muslim countries' with strange governments, but to extend that to world domination???
But I digress. The residents around Pattani had been as frustrated as they had been Hindus, Jews, Christians or whatever. The government in the south does not exactly allow casual freedom of religion, that people can be themselves as long as they do not hinder others. The murders in the south under Thaksin S. don't help either. If you read the backgrounds, it's just that people want to say more about their own region and daily life. With demotions to how far that should go or what means are permitted to achieve those goals. No, these people would not be Muslim either, if we had seen the same scenes in this region.
The rebels do not want any affiliation with Malaysia, but either their own state, called Patani, or a form of autonomy within Thailand. The desire they share is to be heard. This means, among other things, that Malay will be declared the official language and the population will be allowed to choose its own leaders, instead of the bureaucrats from Bangkok who now sit there as governors, mayors, etc. and who have no feeling at all with the Muslims.
Not Malay as an official language but their own language, Yawi.
Their language is Malay, Yawi/Jawi is just a dialect of it. Where Malay is taught at school, it is standard Malay.
What I find strange is that big c mainly has Muslim staff, and that big c is mainly visited by Muslims. My wife always says, where the Muslims do their shopping, it is safe. This was our supermarket and why they set off 2 bombs to join their own fellow believers is a mystery to me
Foreign? It is not about Islam, but more autonomy or independence. Attacks were therefore mainly aimed at the government and what stands in front of it: soldiers, teachers, etc. Whether those officials are Muslim or something else will not really play a role in the decision to commit bloody resistance (or 'resistance'). Can imagine that with two potential comparable goals you take degebe with the fewest Muslims as a plus point, but no more than that.
If Limburg wants more autonomy or independence and this cannot be obtained democratically and there is resistance, I think you can imagine that targets that are representative of those nasty Dutch people will be the target: Dutch soldiers, police stations, etc. as a Limburger then don't worry whether those people are Catholic or not. That Catholic fellow believers die is then a side issue, 'collateral damage'.
I suspect that the degree of security also plays a role in the choice of target. The more security an object has, the more attractive it is to carry out a successful attack. After all, the insurgents' main aim is to prove the Thai government's inability to control the area. For example, don't think that you just drive onto the grounds of Big C Pattani. Before parking, cars must drive up an elevation, after which the car is manually scanned with a kind of detector. The driver must have his ID card photographed and open the trunk. Motorcyclists must all lift their seats and open the petrol tank before they are allowed to park in a separate area. No, the site is very well guarded. Apparently they had become too complacent and this conscious pickup slipped through. At least until June 1, the supercenter will remain closed for research and repair work. After that, safety will be hammered even more than before. that I know for sure. After all, this was already the third time that an attack took place and today it makes the international media.
In my opinion, there are a number of things that are important in a possible solution to the problem in the south:
1. Until now, all Thai governments have behaved rather arrogantly, as bosses to be listened to. That is a wrong starting point for negotiations. There was never any question of equality and no real understanding of the wishes of the Muslims;
2. the conversations were always conducted in Thai and never in the native language of the southerners, Yawi. There is also very likely no one at government level who speaks Yawi and is therefore an acceptable intermediary/negotiator for both parties;
3. All kinds of promises to the southerners were constantly violated and no apology was ever made for what was done to the Muslims;
4. While around 10-15 years ago there were only a few organizations that represented Muslims (and in principle wanted to talk to the government), currently this field is completely fragmented. (Frustrated) young people in particular have turned their backs on the age-old organizations and no longer trust anyone from Bangkok. According to Bangkok, community leaders (the fathers of these young people) were thus turned into 'terrorists' and 'communists'. No one trusts no one;
5. The situation is somewhat comparable to the situation of the Moluccans in the Netherlands, where the government of the Moluccas in exile also lost control of the radicalising young people.
That's a good summary, Chris. I would like to add
6. almost all executives (governors, senior officials, military, police) come from the Buddhist North and often people who are transferred to the South due to insufficient capacities.
7. measures are being taken on a large scale for Thaiization: language and other matters.
8. Some Buddhist temples in the South look more like military camps.
If you let all these points sink in, you must conclude that the Thai State has a great responsibility for the conflict. Which is not to say that killing innocent civilians should be justified.