PATTANI, Thailand, 30 April 2004 — Thailand poured troops into its Muslim-dominated south to guard against retaliatory attacks yesterday as grieving families buried their dead after the army and police killed more than 100 suspected militants.
Human rights groups and Muslim preachers condemned Wednesday’s killings, and accused security personnel of responding with excessive force to attacks by poorly armed mobs, mainly teenagers.
An outlawed separatist group linked to the violence warned foreigners to stay away from the country’s top tourist destinations including Phuket and Krabi and called for a Muslim uprising.
The United States and neighboring Malaysia expressed concern, as the Thai parliament went into a rare closed session after the opposition demanded the government explain how the violence erupted.
The death toll from Wednesday’s fighting rose to 113 after a suspected fighter died of his wounds, bringing to 108 the number of militants killed, officials said. Only three police officers and two soldiers died.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has defended the actions of the security forces and two senior Cabinet ministers played down reports that the militant mobs were armed only with machetes, saying several fired automatic weapons as they led the others into battle.
In a rubber plantation village in Songkhla province, wailing mothers and fathers buried 18 men together in a graveyard, not far from the dirt field where they used to play soccer. All had been shot by police, apparently after they attacked a security checkpoint. “I am in shock,” said Hayee Cheh, 44, a rubber farmer, whose 18-year-old son was among those killed. “He loved to play soccer. He only played soccer.”
Defense Minister Chettha Thanajaro sent two additional battalions to Thailand’s southern provinces. However, facing accusations of brutality, the government took away the command of a top general who used rocket-propelled grenades to attack a mosque, killing 32 people — some of them allegedly unarmed civilians.
“Killing people in a holy place is unacceptable. And I do believe that several innocent worshipers were among the dead,” prominent cleric Vithaya Visetrat said.
Britain and Denmark reacted quickly to the violence by advising their citizens not to travel to the region. But the threat moved further north when the separatist umbrella group Bersatu told foreigners to avoid most of Thailand’s tourist destinations.
