THAI MUSLIMS WANT STERN ACTION ON GUNMEN

By D.Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, June 9 (Bernama) -- Thai Muslims want the government to take
swift action to nab gunmen who attacked a mosque and killed at least 10 people
during a prayer session in Cho-Airong district, Narathiwat, Monday night.

Narathiwat Member of Parliament Najmuddin Umar said it was the worst
incident in the restive southern Thailand.

"There has never been a shooting in a mosque. This is God's house...this is
cruel and the government must answer to the people," he said when contacted
while visiting the Kampung Air Paya mosque where the incident took place around
8pm.

Asked about rumours that government forces were involved in the shooting,
Najmuddin said it was up to the government to investigate and tell the truth to
the people.

"The villagers are too frightened to talk. Some say the Buddhists want to
take revenge because a Buddhist rubber tapper was shot dead in a nearby
village...the government must investigate," he said.

According to a villager who declined to be named, there were 24 people
inside the mosque, mostly elderly people attending a praying session led by a
tabligh group from a nearby village.

Suddenly two masked men entered by the backlane near the rubber plantation
and shot at random hitting 22 people, he said.

The Imam of the mosque, Wan Dollah Wan Kamal, 62, and nine others died on
the spot while 12 were injured. Most of the dead were locals who were praying at
the back row, while the village head was also hospitalised after fainting.

It was the worst shooting incident at a mosque in the restive south. On
April 28, 2004, 108 suspected insurgents were killed during clashes with
security forces in the three southern provinces, including 32 inside the
300-year-old Krue Se Mosque in Pattani.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who sought neighbour Malaysia's assistance
to seek a solution to the conflict, had ordered his deputy in-charge of
security, Suthep Thaugsuban, and army chief Gen Anupong Paochinda to fly to the
south to deal with the situation.

Violence had increased in the past weeks in the three restive provinces.

On Sunday, two people were killed and 19 injured when insurgents attacked
volunteer guards and detonated a car bomb in Jeringa district, Narathiwat, four
days after two teachers, one of them in her eighth month of pregnancy, were
shot dead in Chanae.

More than 3,500 people have died since January 2004 when separatist groups
resumed their armed campaign to seek independence for the three Muslim-majority
provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

Bangkok has dispatched more than 20,000 soldiers to end the turmoil, but
faces difficulty as the separatist groups involved are using guerilla tactics,
especially road-side bombings, arson and drive-by shootings in the restive
southern provinces.

The Bangkok Post reported Monday that Democrat Party MP for Narathiwat, Jeh
Aming Totayong had raised doubts over the latest bombing and shooting incidents,
saying that they might not be the work of insurgents.

He told the daily that many members of parliament in the province was
suspicious as such incidents were happening during the time the budget bill was
about to be deliberated in parliament.
-- BERNAMA