Islamists continue their assault on Thailand…
On Tuesday, Islamic radicals killed one person and injured 6 at a funeral procession in Thailand.
Military personnel transfer injured people out of a helicopter to the hospital in Thailand’s Yala province, about 1084 km ( 672 miles) south of Bangkok, March 13, 2007. Thai police said separatist militants killed one and injured six people who were travelling home from a funeral. (REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom)
And today… 9 Buddhists were shot dead execution style in Thailand but their Muslim bus driver was spared:
Suspected Muslim insurgents opened fire on nine Buddhists who were riding in a commuter van in Thailand’s restive south Wednesday, killing all of them execution-style, police said.
The attack prompted officials to step up security in the south, where a Muslim insurgency has claimed more than 2,000 lives since 2004.
Suspected insurgents bombed the van as it slowed into a curve in the road, which they also had blocked with a large tree trunk, said police Lt. Kitti Mankhong, a duty officer in the Yaha district of Yala province, where the attack occurred.
Armed with assault rifles, the attackers first shot at the driver and then opened the side door of the van and fired at each of the passengers, he said. The driver, who was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the face, was the only survivor from the morning attack.
“Everyone was shot in the head at close range, execution style,” Kitti said.
The van was shuttling people from the Betong district of Yala province to Hat Yai, the south’s major city, in the neighboring province of Songkhla. All of the passengers were identified as Buddhists and the driver was Muslim.
Two of the bus passengers who were executed were children aged 2 and 9.
Charles Johnson reports on a beheading yesterday at a Thailand construction site.