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Libyan-trained militants generating southern violence, Thai officials say

Libyan-trained Muslim insurgents are operating in southern Thailand, where more than 1,000 people have died since early last year in almost daily violence, Thai officials said yesterday.

General Pallop Pinmanee, deputy director of the government's Internal Security Operations Command, said a group of 20 militants spent four years in Libyan camps and returned to Thailand to train hundreds of elite local fighters who have spearheaded a bloody separatist movement in the country's Muslim-dominated southern provinces.

Speculation has been rife over whether the insurgency is receiving direct outside support, but it has been generally acknowledged that some southern Muslims had earlier received military training abroad, including countries in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Pallop said that the returnees had been trained in combat and bomb-making, and in turn instructed some 300 elite commandos as well as 3,000 regular fighters who have been deployed in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. He said the 20 returned to Thailand three years ago.

He denied local media reports that 3,000 Thai Muslims had received training in Libya.

Defense Minister Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya confirmed Pallop's remarks when contacted yesterday. Pallop accused security forces of mishandling the worsening situation in the south, noting that villages said to be under strong insurgent influence increased from 187 two years ago to 247 today.

The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been criticized for its heavy-handed approach, frequent reshuffling of key commanders, rivalry among security agencies in the south and failure to obtain reliable intelligence about the insurgents.

US Ambassador Ralph Boyce said yesterday the US was concerned the situation in the south could intensify if international terrorists joined the insurgency.

"Both Thailand and the US have concerns that the situation will develop in such a way, but today we still see the situation as an internal problem," Boyce told reporters after meeting with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit.

"The US considers that this issue is absolutely Thailand's own problem and Thailand must solve it in Thai ways by the Thai government and Thai people," Boyce told reporters.

"I don't see any external involvement in terms of financial support or weapons. As of now, we do not see any international terrorism [involvement], but of course we are concerned, as is the Thai government, that if the situation is not addressed and solved, it could be one day," he said.

Boyce said the US was confident Thailand will eventually solve the problem.
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