Yala on Fire
Four warehouses in the city came under arson attack, damaging more than Bt100 million worth of property. The cost of other damage inflicted by a bomb attack in front of the Yala Rama Hotel, as well as the torching of auto showrooms and a pylon to relay mobile phone signals, has yet to be calculated.
The first bomb exploded at around 4am in front of a hotel in the heart of Yala, shattering the windows and cars parked nearby. Two grenades were thrown at a cash machine and a billboard pole in front of a car showroom.
Fire fighters took two hours to bring the fire at the warehouses under control.
The attack came just before Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, the government’s security tsar, was scheduled to make a visit to the restive region.
Suthep said earlier the situation had not improved the way the government had hoped, and planned to use the visit to draw up a better strategy.
Army chief, General Anupong Paochinda, downplayed the attacks, calling them “normal occurrences”.
Police said the attackers used home-made explosives with shrapnel made of steel rods cut into pieces. They were set off electronically by remote control, possibly with mobile phones.
In spite of high security in the area, militants were able to enter the heart of the city and retreat quickly before the security units could respond.
In Bangkok, Prime Minister Abhisit defended the government’s overall policy but added that within two weeks a newer, more polished policy for the deep South would be announced.
Similar attacks took place in February 2007 when a rubber warehouse was torched, sending dark smoke over neighbouring Songkhla province. The attack followed a series of coordinated assaults that killed eight people and wounded nearly 70 in a 24-hour period.
In July 2005, separatists on motorcycles set off a series of bombs and Molotov cocktails, hitting a newly opened cinema complex, a karaoke bar, shops and a warehouse. Spikes scattered on roads by fleeing insurgents slowed security forces in hot pursuit.
The incident kicked off when powerful explosives brought down pylons outside an electricity substation early in the evening, crippling most of the telephone system and leaving the city in darkness throughout the night.
The then government of Thaksin Shinawatra pushed through a controversial emergency decree that still applies today.
The government is planning to lift martial law in most border areas of the country and replace it with a new security law, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Thursday.
However martial law would continue to be enforced in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani and in four districts of Songkhla province.
The continuing southern unrest had caused fear among people and damage to many properties, he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security affairs, had travelled to the South on Thursday morning to discuss beefing up security measures there. The relevant agencies would meet next week to discuss the southern situation and the spread of illegal drugs in the country.
The cabinet would consider details of the proposal to replace martial law with a new security law in the other border areas, he said.
Mr Suthep and army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda travelled to the southern border provinces on Thursday morning after militants set fires and detonated bombs in eight areas of Yala early on Wednesday.
Police earlier said the attacks caused damage estimated at more than 100 million baht.
Mr Suthep said he and Gen Anupong would discuss security with top officials of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC).
He said the government had allocated a budget of 18 billion baht to improve the well-being of people in the five southern border provinces of Satun, Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
Mr Suthep and Gen Anupong also visited a palm oil refinery, a fishery village and a sufficiency economy farm project in Narathiwat province.
They were guarded by armed police and soldiers and extra security checkpoints were set up. Cell phone signals in some areas were blocked to prevent insurgents from detonating bombs.
KC: Two interesting reports here from The Nation and Bangkok Post, both of which are usually bereft of substantive commentary and analysis on the southern violence. The first details another wave of bomb attacks in Yala, “normal occurrences” according to General Anupong. Violence in Yala is certainly frequent and has become the norm since the upsurge in incidents in 2004. No effective strategy has been implemented by Abhisit’s government and Anupong and his legions of money-making, politics-playing militarists have been unwilling unable to tackle the increasingly intractable southern imbroglio. Abhisit and pals now talk of lifting martial law “in most border areas of the country” (I wasn’t aware it was implemented in MOST border areas). BUT martial law “would continue to be enforced in the three southernmost provinces” AND “four districts of Songkhla.” So what’s new? Where exactly has martial law been lifted and how can that be considered MOST areas?
I can’t foresee any meaningful progress being made on the deep South with Suthep in the driving seat.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Martial law is still enforced along the border with Cambodia and I think in some northern provinces as well, but finding detailed information about this is not easy.