Military

DATE=10/29/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=THAILAND / VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-320001

BYLINE=NANCY-AMELIA COLLINS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Two More Bombs Explode in Thailand's Troubled Muslim-Dominated South

INTRO: Two more bombs went off in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south Friday morning injuring at least 20 people during a week of continuing violence. The blasts come as Thailand's prime minister prepares to address the nation on his government's deadly handling of a Muslim protest Monday. More from Nancy-Amelia Collins in Bangkok.

TEXT: The first bomb exploded Friday morning near busy tea shops in the provincial capital of Yala 12 hundred kilometers south of Bangkok. About 90 minutes later a second blast occurred as a bomb squad was clearing the area. Most of the injured were police.

/// OPT /// Another bombing Thursday night killed several people and wounded more than a dozen in Narathiwat. /// END OPT ///

The bombs appeared to be targeting security forces, accused of using excessive force to quell the violence in the mostly-Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat that border Malaysia.

Monday 84 people died in clashes with security forces in a Muslim protest in front of a police station in Narathiwat. Some 1300 were detained and 78 of them died after being crushed or suffocated when they were stuffed into military vehicles for transport to detention centers. The incident has spark international and domestic outrage.

About 10-percent of Thais are Muslim in this mostly Buddhist democratic nation. President of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat, Abdulraman Abdulsamad, says people are in shock.

/// ABDULRAMAN ACT IN THAI, FADE ///

He says the Muslim people in the south are very sad and in shock over the deaths of the demonstrators, a situation they never thought could happen.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has promised an investigation but has defended his security forces. /// OPT /// He will address the nation Friday night to try to reduce concerns. /// END OPT ///

/// OPT /// Suwat Jamjuree, a Muslim journalist in Takbai, Narathiwat where the demonstration took place, says residents in the area no longer trust the government.

/// SUWAT ACT - OPT ///

"Normally the people fear the soldiers and police. But in this situation Takbai people go [to the demonstration] because they think they use democracy...they respect democracy...now they don't believe, they don't trust at all."

/// END ACT - END OPT ///

More than 430 people have been killed in the south since the violence began with raid on a police station in January. The government says this could be a resurgent Muslim separatist insurgency which has been quelled in the 1980s.

Analysts say the violence could also be due to organized crime, drug running and rivalry among corrupt officials.

/// REST OPT ///

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi expressed his alarm to Thailand calling the recent violence "depressing." His predecessor Mahathir Mohamad has suggested an autonomy plan for Thailand's Muslim southern provinces to contain the violence. (SIGNED)

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