Thailand: Violence Escalates in Moslem South

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August 11, 2007: In the first five months of the year, 193 were killed by terrorist violence in the south, and 1,056 were wounded. About 2,400 have died since the Islamic terrorist violence began in January, 2004. In the last few months, thousands of additional police and soldiers have been sent south, and intelligence collecting operations have increased substantially. The Moslem majority population in the south has become more cooperative, as they find themselves the victims of bombs, which don't discriminate, and Islamic terrorists attempting to intimidate Moslem civilians they suspect of talking to the police. On top of that, their are Buddhist vigilantes, striking back at Moslem civilians they believe are supporting the terrorists. So now the Moslem civilians in the south are being more cooperative with the police, hoping to bring an end to the growing violence in the south.

August 9, 2007: Islamic terrorists have made themselves more unpopular now by targeting health workers in the south. The doctors, nurses and technicians tend to be Buddhists from the north, but a sizable minority are Moslems from the south. All are being attacked indiscriminately. Fifteen health clinics were closed in response to the attack on one. Nine people were killed by terrorists across the south.

August 7, 2007: In the south, two soldiers were killed by a bomb.

August 5, 2007: Two soldiers and three Moslem civilians were killed in the south.

August 4, 2007: Three hundred troops raided a village in the south, known to harbor Islamic terrorists. Nineteen men were arrested and many weapons found, along with documents and Islamic radical material. Elsewhere in the south, terrorists killed a Moslem soldier, and seven civilians were wounded by a bomb. Three schools were burned down.