Attacks in southern Thailand kill eight |
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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:49
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BANGKOK (XFN-ASIA) - Coordinated attacks across the Muslim south killed eight people and wounded 45, officials said.The bombings, shootings, and arson attacks began late yesterday and continued early today with a bombing that killed an army officer and wounded an eight-year-old boy, officials said.More than 1,900 people have been killed since the most recent conflict erupted in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.Army spokesman Colonel Acar Tiproch said the attackers were trying to show that the government could not guarantee security during the Lunar New Year holiday season.Provincial officials said three people had been killed in shootings and five in bombings during 12 hours of violence. The officials said 45 people had been wounded and that 25 of them were still in hospital.One of the explosions, at a power station in Pattani, plunged much of the provincial capital into darkness for an hour, but the supply of electricity was was quickly restored, officials said.On Friday, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont agreed to accept a Malaysian offer to help in setting up peace talks with the insurgents.The announcement was the latest in a series of peace initiatives taken since Surayud was appointed premier following a bloodless coup in September. So far, those efforts have made little progress, and violence has surged in the four months since the coup.The three Muslim-majority provinces were once an autonomous sultanate, until the region was annexed by Thailand a century ago. Separatist unrest has erupted periodically ever since.
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