Weapons stolen from a Thai army base have been smuggled to Islamic separatist rebels in the western Indonesian province of Aceh, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Wednesday.
| That's pretty unexpected. Go on... |
Thaksin said he confirmed suspicions that the weapons had been sent to Indonesia when he visited Thailandâs southernmost provinces last weekend in an effort to stem a rising tide of violence there. âI got a lot of information on my visit to the south,â Thaksin told reporters at Government House. âWhat I learned from talking to Muslim leaders there matched our own intelligence reports.â He said some of the approximately 300 assault rifles and other weapons stolen from the army base around January 4 ended up in Aceh, where rebels are engaged in an insurgent conflict with Indonesian troops.
| That leaves a few unconnected dots... |
Four Thai soldiers were killed in the January 4 attack in Narathiwat province. On the same night 18 government schools were burned. Thai government officials and civilians were subjected to sporadic attacks. Thai Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, who accompanied Thaksin on his trip to the south, said details about the destination of the stolen weapons had been obtained from a Muslim religious leader in Narathiwat. She quoted the unnamed Muslim leader as saying the weapons, mainly M-16s and AK-47 assault rifles, had actually been stolen before the January 4 raid, which was carried out to cover the theft. Local news reports said the Thai troops caught in the raid were separated by the raiders into two groups - Buddhists and Muslims - and the Buddhists were killed. Islamic separatists in Aceh have been reported to be in contact with like-minded groups in Thailand, such as the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). Both groups are fighting to separate Thailandâs five Moslem- majority southern provinces from overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand. |