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Geez.... red at this!
BANGKOK: -- The Thai prime minister said that he has put Thailand€™s major tourist spots on full alert today, hinting of links between Muslim militants in the south of the kingdom and the terrorists who staged the latest Bali bombings.
€œWe have something (information) that causes us to be very cautious and call a full alert,€ Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in response to a question about how Thailand was reacting to suicide bombs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 26 people on Saturday.
Except to say that plainclothes security officials would be dispatched into the tourist areas, Thaksin did not provide details of the alert or the information which prompted it.
Key tourist spots in Thailand include the island of Phuket, the seaside resort of Pattaya and several sites in the capital.
Thailand is battling its own militants in southern Thailand and Thaksin has so far characterised it as a domestic issue not tied to regional or international terrorism. More than 1,000 people have died since the separatist insurgency erupted early last year.
But the prime minister changed his tune today.
€œBy (geography) it seems that they are far apart but actually along sea routes Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are close. These people (terrorists) are commuting and rotating around in the region,€ he told reporters.
€œThese people have been moving among these countries for generations. They have close connections and links. Their linkages come from relatives, friends and they used to go the same schools.€
He said the alert was ordered because of such links.
Last week, a security adviser to Taksin said that Indonesian fighters are involved in the southern insurgency.
€œI have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it,€ Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya said, saying the militants infiltrated from the Indonesian province of Aceh.
In another recent interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland if the government continued a crackdown against the southern Muslims that is provoking a new generation of fighters.
Lukman Lima said that the 21-month-old insurgency is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathisers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. But he said weapons are being obtained locally and wielded by Thai Muslims.
--Reuters, TV New Zealand, IOL 2005-10-03
BANGKOK: -- The Thai prime minister said that he has put Thailand€™s major tourist spots on full alert today, hinting of links between Muslim militants in the south of the kingdom and the terrorists who staged the latest Bali bombings.
€œWe have something (information) that causes us to be very cautious and call a full alert,€ Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in response to a question about how Thailand was reacting to suicide bombs on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 26 people on Saturday.
Except to say that plainclothes security officials would be dispatched into the tourist areas, Thaksin did not provide details of the alert or the information which prompted it.
Key tourist spots in Thailand include the island of Phuket, the seaside resort of Pattaya and several sites in the capital.
Thailand is battling its own militants in southern Thailand and Thaksin has so far characterised it as a domestic issue not tied to regional or international terrorism. More than 1,000 people have died since the separatist insurgency erupted early last year.
But the prime minister changed his tune today.
€œBy (geography) it seems that they are far apart but actually along sea routes Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are close. These people (terrorists) are commuting and rotating around in the region,€ he told reporters.
€œThese people have been moving among these countries for generations. They have close connections and links. Their linkages come from relatives, friends and they used to go the same schools.€
He said the alert was ordered because of such links.
Last week, a security adviser to Taksin said that Indonesian fighters are involved in the southern insurgency.
€œI have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it,€ Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya said, saying the militants infiltrated from the Indonesian province of Aceh.
In another recent interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland if the government continued a crackdown against the southern Muslims that is provoking a new generation of fighters.
Lukman Lima said that the 21-month-old insurgency is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathisers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. But he said weapons are being obtained locally and wielded by Thai Muslims.
--Reuters, TV New Zealand, IOL 2005-10-03
I know it is not the royal family that cares about or supports the separatists in South Thailand, or at least admittedly. Though they sure don't seem to do much to quell the terrorist supporters that call their country home. 
I laughed out loud at that! (First time that has happened in a while!) 
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