Two insurgents believed to be tied to a motorcycle drive-by shooting at a school in Thailand’s south were shot dead yesterday, police said, as UNICEF warned of trauma for children near the scene of the lunchtime violence.
Since 2004, clashes between the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the area more than 100 years ago, and Malay Muslim rebels have killed nearly 7,000 people, mostly civilians of both faiths.
The conflict is a reality for border province residents where security forces maintain a large footprint, aided by poorly paid defence “volunteers” drawn from local communities.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The four men killed in Thursday’s shooting were all Muslims and were guarding a school in Pattani Province when the attackers struck just before lunchtime with students mere meters away.
Pattani provincial police commander Piyawat Chalermsri yesterday told reporters that two people with alleged ties to the school violence were killed in a shootout yesterday morning.
Although he did not give information about their identities or affiliation, he said he was “confident that they are the same group who carried out the attack Thursday” by driving by on motorbikes.
Authorities have also detained one suspect and were questioning five others, while a military source said that an eight-year-old was grazed by a bullet, but not seriously injured.
UNICEF Thailand representative Thomas Davin on Friday said that one child was reportedly injured by debris and some who might have witnessed the attack could face long-term psychological trauma.
“This attack has undoubtedly put the schoolchildren, the teachers and school personnel in harm’s way. It has put children at grave risk of injury or death,” he said. “Such violence could also affect parents’ willingness to send their children to school — potentially to the detriment of many children’s learning and future development.”
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS