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| Sunday, 27 February 2005 |
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Thai PM slams critics of insurgency policy BANGKOK, (AFP) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra slammed the many critics of his anti-insurgency campaign in Thailand's Muslim south Saturday as another person was shot dead in violence gripping the region. "It seems that all these critics are more concerned about the lives of separatist militants than of the innocent villagers who are killed every day, especially in the past week as the situation deteriorated with both killings and bombing," he said. As Thaksin gave an unusually impassioned weekly radio address, a 53-year-old security guard was shot dead by two masked gunmen at the gate to Raman district hospital in Yala province, police said. "He was pronounced dead at hospital. Police suspect that it's the work of militants trying to incite unrest," police in Raman said by telephone. The latest killing capped a violent week in which seven others were shot dead over three days, and came nine days after militants detonated their first car bomb which killed six people and injured 38 others. A smaller bomb exploded early Friday in Si Sakhon district in Narathiwat province, police said. However it failed to detonate properly and missed a truck carrying teachers and escorted by four Thai soldiers, they said. No one was hurt in the blast. Teachers have become regular targets of the insurgency, which erupted in January last year, and have armed escorts as they travel to and from school. Thaksin vowed not to give up his struggle against the Islamic separatists in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, but said he would change his policies if needed. "With any policy that proves incorrect, I can make a U-turn. I am not an ego-driven person," he said. His comment appeared to refer to his controversial scheme to deny critical government funds to southern villages perceived as supportive of the insurgency. |
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