Revenge killings in the deep South?

The unresolved violence in the deep South which has been going on for more than seven years appears to have taken a more sinister and worrisome aspect as some locals – both Thai Buddhists and Malay Muslims – have resorted to revenge attacks to settle the score themselves.

The revenge attacks between local people of the two religious faiths were confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Thavorn Senniam in his recent interview aired by Spring News television station.  Mr Thavorn admitted that some officials might have taken the law into their own hands to avenge the killings of their colleagues by indiscriminating attacking the Muslims.  However, he insisted that this illegal act was not endorsed by the government and concerned only some individuals.

The Democrat minister also noted that whenever there was such a revenge attack committed by an official, it would be played up by the Islamic extremist group with the hope that the incident would be internationalized.

An example of what was believed to be a revenge attack took place on May 3 in Ban Ka Sod in Bannang Sata district of Yala.  A group of gunmen riding on the back of a pick-up truck opened up with M16 and AK47 assault rifles at a row of tea shops and groceries where dozens of Malay Muslims were gathering, either to sip tea or to shop for some groceries.  Four were killed and 12 others injured.

Three days afterward, a Mr Piraphol Pandam, a former paramilitary ranger living in Tharnto district of Yala, surrendered to police in Bannang Sata district after he was suspected as one of the gunmen.

It was reported that Piraphol’s elder brother, Mr Sombat, was shot dead and his body eventually burned by suspected extremists as he was hunting for forest products in Tambon Ba Choh, Bannang Sata district, on April 27.

Two days after the fatal gun attack in Ban Ka Sod, a couple of Thai Buddhists, Mr Virat Taemprasit and Mrs Nu Daeng Srivichien, were shot dead and their bodies torched as they riding home from the market in a motorcycle.  The murder also took place in Ban Ka Sod.

The killings of the Buddhist couple were believed to be a revenge attack allegedly by Islamic extremists to avenge the May 3 attack of Muslim villagers.

Two months earlier on March 5, suspected extremists shot dead a Buddhist monk and wounded two others as they were on their alm-receiving routine on Kok Po-Bang Kora road in Kok Pho district of Pattani.

The fatal attack of the Buddhist monks was believed to be an act of revenge allegedly by extremists for the murder two days earlier of an imam and another Muslim in Kok Pho district.

The latest incident of suspected revenge attack took place on May 6 in Betong district of Yala.  The victim, Mr Chaorenchai Pornpisutnorakul, 35, was shot and wounded as he was traveling on a highway in Raman district.  One of the assailants was later identified as a paramilitary ranger, Muhammad Sayudee Bueraheng.

It was reliably reported that the May 3 attack of tea houses and groceries in Ban Ka Sod which killed four Muslims and injured a dozen others had caused widespread dissent and tension in the Muslim community with leaflets distributed among the villagers accusing the authorities of having a hand in the fatal attack.

However after the surrender of the suspected gunman, a paramilitary ranger, troops and officials were dispatched to Ban Ka Sod to meet community and religious leaders to make a clarification of the incident and to deny military involvement in the attack.

The Ban Ka Sod case may represent just one of a few cases that the authorities managed to bring about better understanding with the Muslim people.  However, this is just the beginning.  

The key to better understanding and mutual trust between Thai Buddhists and Malay Muslims has always been – and still remains – justice for all.  Unfortunately though, justice still remains elusive or seen to be elusive in the deep South.

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Caption : The soldiers secured in front of the mosque in Ban Ka Sod in Bannang Sata district of Yala while the troops and officials met community and religious leaders to make a clarification of the violence and to deny military involvement in the attack the tea shop, last week.