Associated Press
2009-06-15 07:19 PM
muslim hate in Thailand
Suspected Islamic insurgents beheaded a Buddhist worker at a rubber plantation in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand and shot dead a Muslim man in a separate incident, police said Monday.
The mutilated and charred torso of a 53-year-old man was found at the plantation in Yala province, two days after he went missing from his home, said Police Col. Chalermkiet Amarakrasin. His head was found nearby along with his severed limbs.
A Muslim man was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Narathiwat province early Monday.
An Islamic separatist insurgency in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat has led to the deaths of more than 3,400 people, both Buddhist and Muslim, since early 2004. At least 40 people have been beheaded since the violence began.
A massive counterinsurgency effort had slowed the pace of attacks in recent months but violence has spiked since the killing last week of 10 Muslims at a mosque in Narathiwat.
Thai authorities say the mosque attack was meant to stir up distrust between the Muslim and Buddhist communities. Some local Muslims circulated rumors that the attack was masterminded by Thai authorities, a charge the government denies.
Security forces often blame the insurgents for attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions, claiming they mean to incite hatred to boost their cause and trigger sectarian strife.
But it is widely believed that some local Buddhists, with the help of rogue security forces, have their own vigilante groups to fight against suspected insurgents.
The shadowy insurgents are generally believed to be fighting to carve out an independent Muslim state in the three southern provinces. While many there do not support the rebels, there is a widespread Muslim distrust of the predominantly Buddhist Thai authorities.
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