Muslim religious bigots continue war crimes in Thailand

NY Times:

Some are already calling it war, a brutal Muslim separatist insurgency in southern Thailand that has taken as many as 2,000 lives in three years with almost daily bombings, drive-by shootings, arson and beheadings.

It is a conflict the government admits it is losing. A harsh crackdown and martial law in recent years seem only to have fueled the insurgency by generating fear and anger and undermining moderate Muslim voices.

A new policy of conciliation in the past four months has been met by increased violence, including a barrage of 28 coordinated bombings in the south that killed or wounded about 60 people on Feb. 18.

“The momentum of violence is now beyond the control of government policy,” said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, a political scientist at Prince of Songkhla University here.

“The separatists can pick and choose the time and place of the violence without any effective resistance from the government,” he said. “They have the upper hand.”

Now the insurgents seem to be taking their war to a new stage, pitting local Buddhists against Muslims by attacking symbols of Buddhism with flamboyant brutality.

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The soft approach does not work against these religious bigots. They can't blame this conflict on crusaders either. It is all about Muslim aggression and intolerance of other religions or faiths. Thailand is going to have to destroy this brutal and ugly insurgency and war against knowledge. It is also going to have to deal with their sanctuaries in Malaysia.

The Belmont Club has commentary on the Thai insurgency. some are suggesting that support for a group with no demands other than killings comes from Pakistan, where else? It seems to be the fount of most terrorism in the world.