Military

DATE=10/28/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=THAILAND / MUSLIM OUTRAGE (L&S UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-319972

BYLINE=NANCY-AMELIA COLLINS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

/// EDS: UPDATES 2-319966, WITH NEW DETAILS ON BOMB BLAST. PLEASE UPDATE CASUALTY NUMBERS AS NEEDED ///

HEADLINE: Bomb Causes Injuries in Troubled Thai Province

INTRO: At least 15 people were injured in Thailand today (Thursday) when a bomb went off in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat, where 85 people died earlier this week after a clash with security forces. Nancy-Amelia Collins in Bangkok has more.

TEXT: The bomb exploded outside a bar in Sungai Kolok town, in the southern province of Narathiwat.

There was no immediate word on who might have planted the bomb, but on Wednesday, a long-dormant Thai Muslim separatist group - the Pattani United Liberation Organization - warned of a violent reaction to the government's handling of a riot in Narathiwat on Monday.

Security forces clashed then with Muslim protesters demanding the release of Muslim men detained on weapons charges. Thirteen-hundred protesters were arrested and crammed into trucks for transport to a military facility, and 78 suffocated or were crushed to death. Another seven were shot to death by security forces.

Before the bombing, a Muslim member of parliament, Surin Pitsuwan, warned that violence would continue unless the government took a less aggressive approach.

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".It is a consensus of all analysts that force and violence will lead to further conflict and further violence and that is not a prospect we want to contemplate."

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Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called a meeting of his top security advisors earlier in the day Thursday to discuss security in the region.

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On Wednesday, Mr. Thaksin expressed regret for the deaths, but insisted the security forces acted properly. He promised an investigation into the incident.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Mr. Thaksin of using heavy-handed tactics to deal with violence in the South, which has left more than 430 dead since January.

The government blames a renewed separatist insurgency that was largely quelled more than a decade ago after a government amnesty. (Signed)

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