Two men were killed on Wednesday in southern Thailand by suspected Muslim insurgents who apparently targeted the victims because they were Buddhist, police said.
The first victim, identified as a 55-year-old rubber tapper, was shot three times while riding his motorcycle by a gunman on the back of another motorcycle, said police Major Suthas Noosrikong of Lammai police station in Yala province, where the attack occurred.
Fifteen minutes later, a gunman on a motorcycle pulled up to the home of another Buddhist man in the same village. The attacker entered the home and fired three times, killing the man, aged 69.
"We believe that Muslim insurgents are responsible for the death of the two Buddhist men today," Suthas said, saying police believed the killings were premeditated. "The attackers mean to scare Buddhists away from the area."
The northern part of Thailand is more peaceful, with hardly any such incidents. Most tourists tend to stay in the north.
But drive-by shootings and bombings occur almost daily in Thailand's three southernmost Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, where more than 1,900 people have been killed in an Islamic insurgency that flared up in January 2004.
Police, soldiers and others whom the insurgents view as collaborators with the government are targeted, along with Buddhists.
Buddhist monks have been beheaded, Buddhist teachers slain, and leaflets are distributed around Buddhist villages warning that raising dogs and drinking alcohol are offensive to Muslims.
In separate violence, suspected insurgents detonated three small bombs near homes in the Rangae district of Narathiwat Province, said police Major Chalerm Khongying. There were no reports of injuries.
1. insurgent n.
暴動者 (bao4 dong4 zhe5)
例: The insurgents used roadside bombs and mortars in their attacks.
(叛亂份子以路邊炸彈和迫擊砲攻擊。)
2. rubber tapper n.
採集橡膠者 (cai3 ji2 xiang4 jiao1 zhe5)
例: A good rubber tapper knows which trees are best to tap.
(內行的橡膠採集者知道哪一棵樹最好採。)
3. collaborator n.
通敵者 (tong1 di2 zhe3)
例: Collaborators may help the enemy by giving him information.
(通敵者會以提供情報協助敵方。)
4. detonate v.t.
引爆 (yin3 bao4)
例: Don't detonate the building demolition explosives yet!
(先別引爆大樓的爆破炸藥。)
(Staff Writer with AP)
泰國南方兩名男子週三被疑似回教叛亂份子射殺，警方表示，他們顯然因為是佛教徒才會被攻擊。
這起攻擊事件發生在泰國也拉省，拉美警局的課員蘇沙．努斯里空表示，第一名被害者經確認為五十五歲的橡膠採集工人，騎摩托車時遭坐在另一台摩托車後座的槍手擊中三槍。
十五分鐘後，一名騎著摩托車的槍手停靠在同村的另一名佛教徒男子家前，潛入並開了三槍，擊斃一名六十九歲的男子。
蘇沙表示︰「我們相信，穆斯林暴動份子應為今天這兩名佛教男子的死負責。」他說警方相信這兩起謀殺乃事前策劃，「攻擊者想要將佛教徒嚇離這一帶。」
泰國北部民風較為祥和，幾乎不曾發生此類事件，多數觀光客也傾向待在北部。
然而，游動式槍擊和炸彈事件幾乎每天發生在泰國最南部、穆斯林人口密集的三個地區︰也拉省、北大年城和陶公府，自從二○○四年一月爆發伊斯蘭叛亂，已有超過一千九百人被殺。
警察、士兵和其他被叛亂份子認定是政府的同路人，以及佛教徒都被當成目標。
佛教僧侶被斬首、佛學導師遭屠殺，甚至有傳單分發到佛教村莊，警告村民養狗和喝酒是冒犯穆斯林的行為。
另一起暴力事件中，據警局課員查勒姆．公吉瀛表示，涉嫌犯案的叛亂份子在陶公府藍概縣的民眾家附近引爆三枚小型炸彈，但沒有民眾傷亡。
（美聯社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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