Thursday, April 29, 2004, 12:00 A.M. Pacific
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Thai militants' failed raids result in bloody aftermath
By Richard C. Paddock
Los Angeles Times
PATTANI, Thailand After battling authorities for months, the Muslim militants needed guns, so they planned a daring raid. Armed mainly with machetes, they would launch simultaneous attacks on police stations across southern Thailand, killing as many officers as they could.
Unknown to the extremists, however, someone in their group had tipped off the police. When the rebels attacked 12 police stations at dawn yesterday, police and soldiers were lying in wait and gunned them down. By the end of the day, 107 fighters were dead, most of them teenagers.
Thai security forces, which recently suffered dozens of casualties at the hands of the extremists, held nothing back. When 30 of the fighters took refuge in a mosque, the troops fired tear gas, bullets and grenades into the building, killing every rebel inside.
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Only 17 militants were arrested during the day's fighting. Three police officers and two soldiers were killed.
Authorities defended their troops' response to the rebel assault.
"They came to attack, so the police and soldiers just defended themselves," said Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Siwa Saengmanee.
Some worry now that the lopsided death toll could inspire more hatred of the government among Thailand's Muslims, who live mainly in the south and make up about 5 percent of the country's population.
But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters in Bangkok that the rebels' deaths would help bring an end to a rebellion that has festered for decades in the southern provinces.
"It will be hard for them to do these kind of bad things again," the prime minister said.
Under Thaksin, Thailand has played down its growing rebellion and the presence of international terrorists in part to avoid scaring off tourists and investors. But now, it will be difficult for this Southeast Asian nation to escape comparisons with its neighbors, Indonesia and the Philippines, where bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians or government forces are common.
For years, Thailand has been a way station for terrorists connected with the al-Qaida network and its regional affiliate, Jemaah Islamiyah. At least two initial meetings to plan the October 2002 Bali bombing were held in Thailand. Last year, a militant cleric known as Hambali, allegedly a top figure in al-Qaida, was arrested in central Thailand. Authorities also broke up what they said was a plot by Muslims in southern Thailand to bomb popular tourist destinations around the country.
It is unclear whether al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah have forged links with the rebel movement in southern Thailand, but authorities believe some extremists from the region may have received training in Afghanistan or Indonesia.
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On Jan. 4, rebels raided an army barracks, killed four soldiers and set 20 schools on fire. In March, they torched dozens of government buildings in coordinated attacks. More than 60 police and public officials have been killed this year. Also among the rebels' victims were Buddhist monks who were hacked to death in the street.
In recent weeks, the government has moved in heavily armed troops to patrol the region and imposed martial law in some areas. A wave of abductions has eliminated government critics, including Somchai Neelahphajit, a well-known Muslim human-rights lawyer who had alleged that police tortured terror suspects he represented. He has not been seen for nearly six weeks.
Some fear that the government's heavy-handed approach is backfiring and fueling the growth of the extremist movement. The rebels may also be moved to violence by Thailand's decision to send 450 troops to Iraq in support of the U.S. occupation.