Gunmen in Thailand’s deep south shot dead two Buddhist monks and wounded two others inside a temple, police said yesterday, capping a week of deadly violence as Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha vowed to “punish” those responsible.
Black-clad assailants with rifles on Friday evening crept into Rattanaupap Temple in Narathiwat Province near Malaysia’s border and started firing, local superintendant Pakdi Preechachon said.
“The attack took place at about 7:30pm when an unknown number of gunmen dressed in black entered the temple through a rear area via a creek,” Pakdi said. “Two monks were shot dead at the temple, while two others were wounded.”
Photo: Reuters
Since 2004, clashes between ethnic Malay Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state that annexed the region a century ago have killed nearly 7,000 people, mostly civilians of both faiths.
The death toll in the south last year dropped to a record low as Thailand’s junta tightened its security web, but violence has boiled over in the past few days, raising concerns about soft targets at schools and religious institutions.
In the past, Buddhist monks have been targeted only infrequently.
They have been told to suspend morning alms collection starting yesterday in three southern provinces and the southern army commander has instructed security officials to step up safeguards of Islamic leaders who could also be at risk.
The prime minister condemned the temple shootings.
“The prime minister denounced such a brazen attack and instructed officials to investigate and find the assailants to punish them,” Thai government spokesman Buddhipongse Punnakanta said.
Human Rights Watch, which said in a statement that at least 23 monks had been killed since the outbreak of the insurgency in 2004, called the assault “ghastly” and a war crime, because gunmen went after civilians and a place of worship.
Pictures show monks standing next to heavily armed Thai soldiers and an alms bowl inside the temple compound with bullet holes in it.
An imam in the same province was last week shot dead, but it was unclear if the temple attack was related.
Friday’s shooting came the same day as four security officials were wounded by two separate roadside bombs and an insurgent was shot dead in a clash near a school that sent students home for the day.
Four civil defense volunteers were on Thursday last week killed in a drive-by shooting outside a school in Pattani Province, with security forces injuring a boy as they gunned down rebels believed to be responsible.
In a rare public statement dated Jan. 4, the main Malay Muslim rebel group — the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) — which has command and control over most of the insurgent foot soldiers, vowed to “keep fighting.”
“Siam [Thailand] can’t hold out,” the BRN wrote, signing off with a warning: “Do not help and support Siam.”
Security analyst Don Pathan said the uptick in violence was connected to efforts from Thai negotiators and Malaysian facilitators across the border to “pressure the BRN ruling council to come to the table without offering possible concessions.”
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