Isoc links outsiders to mosque massacre

The Internal Security Operations Command has linked Monday's mosque attack with a group of strangers spotted at Ai Payae village just before the massacre, a high-ranking Isoc source says.
The source at the Isoc's Region 4 said the outsiders were brought into the village in Cho Airong district in Narathiwat where the massacre took place on Sunday by local teenagers. They could be connected with the shooting on Monday night, which killed 10 people and injured 12, the source said.

Spent bullets retrieved from the scene showed that two M-16 assault rifles were used and the weapons could have been those also used in an attack on a mosque in Sungai Padi district, the source said. One villager was killed in that attack on June 2, 2007.

The presence of the outsiders in the village is in line with the security agency's concern that a new generation of militants sent for special training overseas could carry out attacks.

The training discarded religious beliefs and faith and made it easy for the trainees to carry out attacks in religious establishments, according to the Isoc intelligence report.

After the attack, rumours spread in the district that security officials were behind the shooting.
But army chief Anupong Paojinda and security officers in the far South strongly dismissed the rumours and condemned the attack.

The attack prompted a special committee on development of the strife-torn South to inject 18 billion baht into the funding of development plans in the southernmost provinces.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who chairs the panel, said 6 billion baht would come from the 2010 budget and the rest from the economic-stimulus packages.

He said the committee also proposed several economic measures including taxes to promote development in the region.

The budget spending and the proposed measures would be forwarded to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva today in a meeting of cabinet ministers in charge of security.
Gen Anupong, who is a committee member, insisted the government had been on the right track to address the southern problems despite the recent flare-up.

While a development-based approach is adopted to reach out to the public and prevent them from being exploited by insurgents, legal measures should also be taken against militants, he said.

Acting government spokesman Panithan Wattanayagorn said southern violence was expected to worsen following reports insurgents planned to turn a gas tanker into a bomb and that their attacks would be directed at students, teachers and health officials.

They have become main targets because they were deemed defenceless, Mr Panithan said.

Source: Bangkok Post

My View:

After so long, Thailand is still at a chao stage. Well, can't really blame the goverment. This seem like a fight for indepenance by the people there. Can it be some joker from malaysia that doing the back-end job??