Coordinated bombs rock Thai south
> Violence undermines ‘peace progress’ claims
BANGKOK: Insurgents detonated more than 20 homemade explosives across Thailand’s south, the army said yesterday, in a night of violence undermining junta claims of headway in peace talks with the rebels.
The kingdom’s southern border provinces have been plagued by a 14-year fight between separatists and the Thai state that has left nearly 7,000 dead.
On Sunday, suspected rebels launched their most sweeping attack in recent months, striking 14 ATM booths, two electricity poles and other public spaces and security posts.
No one was killed by the blasts, which went off across the four provinces bordering Malaysia, but the coordinated offensive marked a brazen challenge to the ruling junta’s efforts at peace negotiations.
“They always look for a way to create chaos and inconvenience. This time they went after the easy targets,” army spokesman Colonel Pramote Prom-in said of the insurgents.
Pramote brushed aside a question on whether the violence would effect the junta’s ongoing talks with a group that claims to represent the rebels.
The military recently said the two sides had made progress in designating a “safe zone” in one district of the insurgencyroiled region.
But analysts have long doubted that the rebel interlocutors have genuine sway over fighters on the ground.
“It’s (the rebels’) way of reminding the Thai security apparatus that they have the will and capacity to discredit them,” independent Thailand-based analyst Don Pathan said.
“And a reminder that they are not part of the so-called peace process.”
Meanwhile, three politicians from the party ousted by Thailand’s generals were charged yesterday with sedition, as dissent grows before the fourth anniversary of the junta’s 2014 coup.
The military filed a case after senior Pheu Thai party figures railed against the coup organisers at a press conference last week, blasting the generals for breaking repeated promises to restore democracy.
Watana Muangsook, Chaturon Chaisang and Chusak Sirinil were all charged yesterday with sedition, while five other party leaders were charged with violating the ban on gatherings, deputy national police chief Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said.
He said police would not detain the men while the case proceeded.
The trio kept up their criticism of the military as they cut through a crowd gathered outside the police office and shouting “fight, fight!” in support.
“This government abuses the laws. They use laws to prevent people from investigating (them),” Pheu Thai’s secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai said. – AFP