BANGKOK: Thai security forces hunted yesterday for gunmen behind a bloody attack on a southern mosque that killed 11 people and raised tensions between the army and villagers.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack this year in Thailand’s restive Muslim deep south, where nearly 3,500 Muslims and Buddhists have died in violence since 2004. But residents of Cho Airong district pointed the finger at the military and police a day after five gunmen burst into a mosque and sprayed rifle fire at praying Muslims, killing 11 and wounding 13.
“Local people believe security people did the shooting. They cannot believe that Muslims, even the very, very bad ones, can kill their brothers while praying,” Worawit Baru, a senator and academic from the region, said.
Thailand’s army, which has deployed 30,000 troops in the region bordering Malaysia, denied any involvement. “The attack was absolutely not done by us,” said Col. Prinya Chaidilok, a spokesman for the Southern 4th Army.
He said forensic experts are studying bullet casings found inside the mosque, where the blood-stained bodies were removed for burial yesterday.
Hundreds of mourners gathered outside the mosque which was guarded by scores of soldiers and police. “We are looking for them,” Prinya said, but he added there were few witnesses to help identify the gunmen. “Survivors did not see them because they were shot while praying with their backs to the door where gunmen opened fired.”
The army blamed separatists, accusing them of seeking to stoke hatred between Buddhists and Muslims in the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.
It was not first time that a mosque has been at the center of violence in the five-year rebellion.
