Suspected separatist militants detonated two bombs in Thailand's troubled south on Thursday, killing one person, as prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva visited the Muslim-majority region, officials said.
The first blast was just 100 metres (yards) from where Abhisit was later due to open a road in the town of Yala, and slightly wounded three policemen who were part of the security team for the trip, police and the military said.
The second, also in Yala but about two kilometres (one and half miles) away, was a more powerful bomb blast that killed a civilian defence volunteer and left a large crater, the army said.
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| Thai hospital workers inspect the dead body of an alleged Muslim militant after a clash with Thai soldiers in Narathiwat province on January 6. Suspected separatist militants detonated two bombs in Thailand's troubled south, as Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva visited the Muslim-majority region.
(AFP/Madaree Tohlala) |
"His body was totally torn apart," southern army commander Major general Wichet Visaijorn told reporters. "The militants staged this violent attack to draw attention."
Police said they had defused a third bomb.
More than 4,100 people have died during a six-year anti-government insurgency across the south, led by a shadowy mix of Islamist and separatist militants who never publicly state their goals.
Speaking to members of government-backed civilian militias in Yala, Abhisit said that the government would this year freeze the number of troops in the region, currently at 60,000 troops, and start to cut forces within two years.
"If we want to restore peace that cannot be achieved by deploying enormous forces from outside the region. At least this year the government will freeze forces and by 2012 troops will start to reduce," he said.
He also promised a 20 billion-baht (60 million dollar) stimulus package for the region to help double the average annual income to 120,000 baht (3,636 dollars) within five years.
But he urged the militia members, known as rangers, to work with local people and avoid rights abuses because militants could use them as a pretext for more attacks.
Militias and security forces in the region have been accused of widespread abuses by rights groups.
Thai army chief Anupong Paojinda said that there were an estimated 10,000 militants active in the region.
In other violence in the south, gunmen on motorcycles Wednesday shot dead a Buddhist man who ran the local meteorology department in a district of Pattani, police said.
A 25-year-old Islamic militant was shot and killed the same day in Narathiwat provincial town after he clashed with a security team that was clearing the area ahead of Abhisit's visit.
Thai authorities have mobilised more than 2,000 security forces plus eight helicopters to protect Abhisit and senior ministers as they open roads, give gifts to children and visit a model village during the trip.
It comes just one month after the Thai premier visited the region with his Malaysian counterpart to rename a bridge between the two countries.
Tensions have simmered in the south with occasional flare-ups since predominantly Buddhist Thailand annexed the former Malay Muslim sultanate in 1902.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100107/wl_asia_afp/thailandsouthunrestpm_20100107132513
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