Thailand yesterday announced plans to beef up security in its troubled deep South in the wake of a new spate of bombings that claimed three lives and left more than 60 injured including two Americans and Malaysian tourists.
The tougher measures come less than a week after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to reduce forces in the violence-ridden area and take a more conciliatory approach to suppressing the Muslim separatist movement that has been plaguing the region for decades.
On Sunday night three bombs were set off almost simultaneously in the southern town of Hat Yai at the airport, a Carrefour hypermarket and a hotel, killing three people and injuring more than 60 others.
"These people have done this act despite the goodwill the government has shown them," said Thaksin in Bangkok.
Another bomb went off mid-day yesterday in Yala, 760km south of Bangkok, at a technical college that seriously injured six security personnel but caused no deaths.
Thailand's top security chiefs held an emergency meeting in Bangkok yesterday morning that resolved to beef up security in Hat Yai and the country's three southernmost provinces -- Naratiwat, Pattani and Yala -- where more than 750 people have died over the past 15 months.
The blast at Hat Yai Airport's departure lounge killed two people at the scene and a third died from her severe injuries yesterday morning, sources at the Songkhla Nakkarin Hospital said. Among the injured in the airport blast were Susan Ladner Henon, 51, a US teacher at a Bangkok international school, and her son, Yann Henon, with hospital sources saying both were in ICU.
Two Malaysians were also confirmed to have been among those injured in the blast at the Hat Yai airport, according to news reports in neighboring Malaysia. The Malaysian Consulate in Songkhla said the two middle-aged victims in Sunday's incident were identified as Lim Teng Sin and Ang Sin Chuan, the national news agency Bernama reported. The consulate said the two suffered minor injuries, but it did not have further details on them.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces have witnessed a spate of increasing violence since January last year, when Muslim militants raided an army depot and seized more than 300 rifles. More than 600 people died in government crackdowns and revenge killings last year and another 150 have died in the first months of this year.
Prime Minister Thaksin, who was criticized by many for fomenting the violence with his heavy-handed tactics last year, last week announced a shift in policy towards more conciliatory methods to cope with the century-old separatist movement in three provinces along the border with Malaysia.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS