[MiddleEastEye] Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian Columbia University graduate detained by US immigration authorities over the weekend, worked for the British government on its "flagship soft power policy" for years, Middle East Eye can reveal.
Khalil, a permanent resident of the US, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Saturday night.
A federal judge temporarily blocked his deportation, and Khalil is currently awaiting proceedings in a federal jail in Louisiana.
However, MEE has found that he previously worked as a programme manager at the Syria Office in the British embassy in Beirut from 2018 t0 2022.
Online records reviewed by MEE show that Khalil worked as a local manager for the Syria Chevening Program, a prestigious UK government international scholarship scheme, as well as for the Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund.
'LOVED BY HIS COLLEAGUES'
Former British diplomat Andrew Waller, who was a policy advisor at the Syria Office while Khalil worked there, told MEE that the US government's depiction of Khalil was false and defamatory.
"He went through a vetting process to get the job and was cleared to work on sensitive issues for the British government," Waller said
"It's outright defamation what Trump has done. Mahmoud is an extremely kind and conscientious person and he was loved by his colleagues at the Syria Office," he added.
"You couldn't find anyone who'd say a bad word about him, he was very good at his job."
The Chevening scholarship, which is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), describes its mission as being to "support UK foreign policy priorities and achieve FCDO objectives by creating lasting positive relationships with future leaders, influencers, and decision-makers".
Waller described it as a "flagship UK soft power policy".
"It brings the brightest students from around the world to UK universities. Mahmoud ran its Syria programme and interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants on behalf of the British government."
Khalil was also a "local staff political officer", responsible for providing the "contextual understanding and linguistic skills to translate meetings," Waller recalled.
"It's really interesting. Less than two weeks ago JD Vance is lecturing Keir Starmer about free speech, and then the US goes and kidnaps Mahmoud Khalil for organising student protests."
So then the question becomes “ why did @10DowningStreet have a MI6 spy in America organizing/leading violent antisemitic riots and destabilizing universities/cities?”
A Columbia University anti-Israel activist leader will remain in detention after an initial court hearing in New York on Wednesday that drew hundreds of protesters.
The protest organizer, Mahmoud Khalil, was detained by federal agents on Saturday outside his home in New York. The arrest was the first such detention in the Trump administration’s planned crackdown on university activists and set off furious backlash.
US District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked authorities on Monday from deporting Khalil, 30, to weigh a legal challenge from his defense, and scheduled Wednesday’s hearing in lower Manhattan.
The hearing mostly focused on jurisdictional issues. Khalil, a green card holder originally from Syria, is being held in Louisiana and was not present. Khalil’s lawyers are seeking to have him returned to New York and be released under supervision.
During Wednesday’s hearing, attorney Brandon Waterman argued on behalf of the Justice Department that the venue for the deportation fight should be moved from New York City to Louisiana or New Jersey because those are the locations where Khalil has been held.
One of Khalil’s lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, told the judge that Khalil was "identified, targeted and detained" because of his advocacy for Paleostinian rights and his protected speech.
Kassem also told Furman that Khalil’s legal team hasn’t had any attorney-client-protected phone calls with him. The court ordered in a legal filing that Khalil be allowed hourlong calls with his defense on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kassem said Khalil’s defense will submit an updated lawsuit on Thursday, and Furman ordered both sides to submit a joint letter on Friday about when they will submit written arguments about the legal issues in the case.
Hundreds protested outside Khalil’s hearing on Wednesday. The demonstrators, many wearing masks and keffiyehs, carried signs with images of Khalil, and chanted for his release and in support of the Paleostinians.
Activists and speakers at the event hailed from an array of leftist and anti-Israel groups. Speakers tied Khalil’s detention to domestic issues including affordable housing, health care and poverty.
A speaker from the Democratic Socialists of America said the US was providing funding to "exterminate whole families in Gaza" instead of "ending homelessness."
Khalil has not been charged with a crime. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Khalil was detained for deportation due to support for the Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... terror group. Khalil attended a protest last week at Barnard College, a Columbia affiliate, during which activists handed out pamphlets from the "Hamas media office."
"This is not about free speech," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... said on Wednesday when asked if Khalil’s arrest clashed with US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... ’s championing of the right to express opinions.
"This is about people that don’t have a right to be in the United States to begin with," Rubio said.
Trump has said Khalil’s arrest is the first "of many to come," accusing students across the country of being engaged in "pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity" that his administration "will not tolerate."
Federal laws say aliens are inadmissible to the US, or "deportable," if they engage in terrorist activities, including anyone who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization." Green card holders are considered aliens.
Federal laws say aliens are inadmissible to the US, or "deportable," if they engage in terrorist activities, including anyone who "endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization." Green card holders are considered aliens.
Khalil, who finished graduate studies at Columbia in December, was a leading organizer for the Columbia protest movement. Columbia protesters held disruptive demonstrations on campus starting soon after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, that have continued into recent weeks. Protesters have openly endorsed violence and US-designated terror groups, and Jewish and Israeli students and faculty have said the activists created a hostile and discriminatory environment. A university task force reported "crushing" discrimination against Jews and Israelis on campus.
Rhetorical support for US-designated terrorist groups is protected under the First Amendment if it is not coordinated with terrorists. Discriminatory harassment, targeted threats and incitement to imminent violence are not covered by free speech protections. Columbia protests have also seen unlawful conduct including property damage and vandalism.
Khalil’s detention is part of a broader crackdown on anti-Israel campus activism by the Trump administration, which says the protests infringe on civil rights protections for Jews. The administration cut $400 million in funding to Columbia, warned 60 universities they are under investigation for antisemitism, and a federal antisemitism task force plans to visit 10 campuses around the country, including Columbia.
The NY Post was liveblogging events yesterday, and has an uninformative pastel sketch of Mrs. Khalil — all I can tell is that she is a hijabi. Also, further down, with photos:
Protester arrested after altercation with pro-Trump demonstrator
A middle-aged man in a black Roxy Music T-shirt was cuffed and bundled into a police van after allegedly snatching a beanie with the Puerto Rican flag off the head of a lone counter-protester.
Mahmoud Khalil supporters arrested after clash with NYPD as ‘pro-Hamas’ Columbia graduate faces deportation
About a dozen people were cuffed as they clashed with NYPD officers during a demonstration in support of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil on Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Cops swarmed in to make arrests after throngs of protesters blocked a downtown Manhattan street, despite repeated warnings from police to clear the roadway.
One keffiyeh-clad rabble-rouser was tackled to the ground by a pair of officers during his arrest.
Asra Nomani
@AsraNomani
🚨
@DPearlProject
Red Alert to media, the public, law enforcement, intel:
🚨 In minutes, as Mahmoud Khalil appears in a court hearing, videos will go viral from an 11 AM protest for Mahmoud Khalil. This is not a “grassroots” protest.
🚨 Organizers are part of a multimillion dollar anti-semitic network of 1,500 groups that I’ve identified in a Pearl Project database I’m working to make public.
🚨They represent the alliance of Socialists (red) with Islamists (green).
🚨 Don’t trust me. Study their own ad. These professional protestors are behind the pro-Mahmoud rally.
Here is a list of many of today’s professional protestors; all with a “one-state solution” to replace Israel with Palestine.
Self-described Socialists
🔴 The People’s FORUM - funded by China propagandist tycoon Neville Roy Singham
🔴 ANSWER - self-declared Marxists
🔴 Party for Socialism and Liberation
🔴 NODUTDOL - pro-North Korea
🔴 Jewish Voice for Peace
🔴 CODE PINK - friendly visits to Hamas and Iran; funded by Singham
🟢 PALESTINIAN YOUTH
MOVEMENT
🟢 Palestinian Feminist
Collective
🟢 Students for Justice in Palestine - started by Hatem Bazian at UC Berkeley
🟢 AL-AWDA - demands “right of return” of all Palestinians to modern-day Israel
Related: Fox News has more about Asra Nomani and the Pearl Project here.
Update at 5:00 a.m. ET: We have a name and photo for Mrs. Khalil, who looks both supercilious and unwell. More from the Times of Israel:
Two days before US agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia University student and anti-Israel activist asked his wife if she knew what to do if immigration agents came to their door. Noor Abdalla, Khalil’s wife of more than two years, said she was confused. As a legal permanent resident of the US, surely he did not have to worry about that, she recalls telling him.
“I didn’t take him seriously. Clearly I was naive,” Abdalla, a US citizen who is eight months pregnant, told Reuters in her first media interview.
Khalil was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and came to the US on a student visa in 2022, getting his US permanent residency green card last year.
US Department of Homeland Security agents handcuffed her husband on Saturday in the lobby of their university-owned apartment building in Manhattan. Khalil’s arrest is one of the first efforts by US President Donald Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House in January, to fulfill his promise to seek deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement over its alleged support for terror groups and antisemitism.
Earlier on Wednesday, Abdalla, a 28-year-old dentist in New York, sat in the front row of a Manhattan courtroom as Khalil’s lawyers argued to a federal judge that he had been arrested in retaliation for his outspoken advocacy against Israel’s military action in Gaza amid the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, in which invaders led by the terror group killed 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251.
The judge extended his order blocking Khalil’s deportation while he considers whether the arrest was constitutional.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Khalil was detained for deportation due to support for the Hamas terror group.
“This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro-Hamas propaganda fliers,” Leavitt said.
Khalil was a leading organizer for the Columbia protest movement. Columbia protesters held disruptive demonstrations on campus starting soon after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, that have continued into recent weeks. Protesters have openly endorsed violence and US-designated terror groups, and Jewish and Israeli students and faculty have said the activists created a hostile and discriminatory environment. A university task force reported “crushing” discrimination against Jews and Israelis on campus.
Abdalla and Khalil met in Lebanon in 2016 when she joined a volunteer program Khalil was overseeing at a nonprofit group that provides educational scholarships to Syrian youth. They started as friends before a seven-year long-distance relationship led to their New York wedding in 2023.
“He is the most incredible person who cares so much for other people,” she said. “He is the most kind, genuine soul.”
The couple is expecting their first child in late April. She said she hoped Khalil would be free by then. She showed Reuters a picture of a recent sonogram: a boy whose name they have yet to choose.
“I think it would be very devastating for me and for him to meet his first child behind a glass screen,” Abdalla said. “I’ve always been so excited to have my first baby with the person I love.”
The government has said it has begun proceedings to deport Khalil and is defending his detention in the court proceedings until then.
Kassem helped lead @WOLPalestine
’s “Emergency Session: A Survival Guide to Arrests and Jail Support.”
In one clip shared here, he discusses the roles of individuals in protests. For instance, people on visas should be more careful to not get arrested versus U.S. citizens.
Kassem is a CUNY law professor and currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor at the White House. He was appointed this role in 2022.
Kassem was also awarded a fellowship from Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation (Paul is brother of George Soros) in 2001 to study law at guess where? Bingo! @ColumbiaLaw
. He also earned an undergraduate degree from @Columbia
.
To summarize: A Senior Policy Advisor at the White House is advising @WOLPalestine
on how to avoid arrests and assisting them once arrested. And this same person has received money from the Soros family and earned degrees from @Columbia
.
@POTUS
, no wonder you won’t do anything about WOL. Members of your administration are in bed with this domestic terrorist organization.
It is also not surprising that Kiswani and her fellow domestic terrorists have managed to avoid arrests if they are getting assistance from people like Kassem who are a part of the system.
#3
Sounds like Abdalla volunteered her womb for the mission.
'Your mission should prioritize marriage and children, as that will give you cover and additional legal protections while organizing your cells. Here is a list of volunteers, each tested for fertility and willing to allow additional concubines to facilitate this aspect.'
Within Our Lifetime – United For Palestine, is a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activist organization primarily active in New York City. The organization was founded and is currently led by the Palestinian-American Muslim Nerdeen Kiswani. They are based out of Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn that is home to the majority of Palestinians in New York City. The Jerusalem Post has described them as the region's leading pro-Palestinian activist group. WOL organizes around four principles: the Palestinian right of return, anti-Zionism, the Palestinian right to resist, and internationalism. While the organization is centered around Palestinian liberation, they are also generally anti-imperialist. WOL has praised Hamas
[Breitbart] A masked man vandalized a Tesla charging station and attempted to burn it down using molotov cocktails in North Charleston, South Carolina, ultimately setting himself on fire in the process. The maniac spray-painted “Long live Ukraine” next to a vulgar message aimed at President Trump at the scene.
The Post and Courier reports that in a bizarre incident that unfolded in North Charleston, South Carolina, a masked Trump hater vandalized and attempted to set fire to Tesla charging stations, only to end up setting himself ablaze in the process. The incident, which took place near a Mellow Mushroom pizzeria at 4855 Tanger Outlet Blvd., has left the community stunned and authorities searching for answers.
According to witnesses, the masked individual, wearing a gray jacket or hoodie, spray-painted the message “(expletive) TRUMP LONG LIVE UKRAINE” near the bank of Tesla charging stations before proceeding with his ill-fated attempt to destroy the electric vehicle chargers. The man reportedly used beer bottles as makeshift Molotov cocktails, setting them on fire and hurling them at three charging stations. However, during this act of arson, the man inadvertently set himself on fire, with witnesses reporting flames spreading across his back.
As onlookers began calling 911, the masked individual fled the scene, running past a nearby Zaxby’s restaurant and towards the hotels behind it. The North Charleston police department has not yet identified or arrested the suspect, but the incident has resulted in an estimated $60,000 in damages to the Tesla charging infrastructure.
This incident appears to be part of a growing trend of vandalism and crime targeting Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, as well as President Donald Trump. Breitbart News previously reported on a man who claims to be woman that police say brought explosives to a Tesla dealership to cause murder and mayhem.
The investigation into the North Charleston incident has now been taken over by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as confirmed by Harve Jacobs, spokesman for the North Charleston police department. Authorities are working to identify the suspect and determine the full extent of the damage caused by the vandalism and fire.
Was pointing out that when they need to obscure and deflect from coordinated attacks with the intent to intimidate and/or change political tendencies, any old slogan will do.
#7
Not to go all Calvinist on his charred ass, but maybe this is a sign that Gawd disapproves of your efforts.
On NPR yesterday, stories about the Tesla 'protests' failed to mention fires or vandalism. Just innocent protests, that's all!
Other NPR plotlines being offered:
1) The Trump admin is devolving into chaos.
2) RFK Jr, a noted scepticiser of vaccines, has failed to respond strongly to the latest measles outbreak. This was despite playing an actual quote of him saying everyone in the afflicted county should get the measles vax.
3) People in Texas who make a personal decision not to get a vaccine are transgressing against the Common Good(tm) - an amusing position from the Our Bodies, Ourselves crowd who are normally all about individual autonomy.
[GEO.TV] Talks between Pak and Afghan jirgas aimed at resolving the 19-day Torkham border dispute broke down after the Afghan delegation walked out, accusing Pakistain of not taking the negotiations seriously, according to sources.
They said the dispute began nearly three weeks ago when Afghan forces started constructing structures inside Pak territory near the Torkham border, The News reported on Thursday.
Pakistain objected to the construction, leading to rising tensions and the suspension of trade and cross-border movement. The closure has caused severe disruptions to businesses and travellers on both sides.
To resolve the issue, both countries formed jirgas four days ago, comprising tribal elders, businessmen, and officials.
In the first meeting two days ago, both delegations agreed to a ceasefire and further dialogue to address the controversial construction and restore border operations. The ceasefire has been upheld since the initial talks.
After consulting Afghan authorities in Kabul and Jalalabad, the Afghan jirga led by Afghan Chamber of Commerce Chairman Younus Mohmand returned to the Torkham border for a decisive round of negotiations.
The meeting was expected to determine the next steps for reopening the border and resolving the territorial dispute.
However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the Afghan delegation said Pakistain had expanded its delegation list without prior consultation. The Afghan jirga waited for two hours but ultimately decided to leave without holding talks.
They returned to Kabul, expressing their disappointment with Pakistain's jirga approach and accusing it of undermining serious negotiations.
Pak jirga leader and Federation of Chambers of Commerce adviser Sayed Jawad Hussain Kazmi acknowledged the Afghan concerns, admitting that the expansion of the delegation had not been communicated properly.
He explained that Pakistain had originally submitted a list of 17 members, but another list with over 50 additional names was unexpectedly sent to the Afghan delegation.
Kazmi stressed that the Torkham border dispute was a critical issue affecting trade, economic stability, and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He reiterated that dialogue remained the only way to resolve the matter and assured that efforts would continue to bring the Afghan jirga back to the negotiating table.
Passengers injured in gunfire as they fled on foot from gunmen following the Jaffer Express hostage crisis are treated at the Civil Hospital in Quetta, Pakistan
▪️Militants blew up a railway track and hijacked a train on Tuesday in Pakistan
[GEO.TV] The Israeli negotiation team, that were likely to leave Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... today, will remain in Doha as ceasefire talks continue, Al Jazeera reported citing a report by the Times of Israel which cited an anonymous Israeli official.
The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ceasefire agreement ended on March 1 without a clear roadmap for an extension but on Tuesday the Paleostinian resistance group announced the start of a "new round of ceasefire negotiations" in Doha.
The progress of those talks — which are being mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt — is currently unclear.
Israel's Kan public broadcaster, citing a Paleostinian source, has said Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is pushing for a second 60-day ceasefire in return for the release of 10 Israeli captives from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... .
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2025 05:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11142 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[IsraelTimes] Troops search for assailant who shot 18-year-old driver near Ariel settlement after reportedly first using a laser to temporarily blind him
An Israeli civilian was maimed Wednesday evening in a shooting attack near the northern West Bank settlement of Ariel, prompting an IDF manhunt.
The shooting victim, 18, was taken to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva for treatment. Magen David Adom said he was in moderate and stable condition after being shot in the arm while driving.
It was not immediately clear where exactly the shooting took place, the Israel Defense Forces said. The victim reached Ariel’s industrial park after coming under fire, where he met up with security forces and medics.
Troops were blocking roads and using aerial surveillance amid the searches for the assailant, the military added.
Police were also assisting in the searches, with district commander Moshe Pinchi visiting the scene of the shooting.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, the victim said in his initial testimony that the shooter used a laser to temporarily blind him before opening fire.
Earlier Wednesday, the IDF said that soldiers demolished the home of a Paleostinian terrorist in Qalqilya who killed an Israeli man in the West Bank city last summer.
On June 22, 2024, Ali Khalil and other members of a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... cell opened fire on an Israeli car in Qalqilya, killing Amnon Muchtar, 67, of Petah Tikva.
Khalil and a second terrorist involved in the attack, Jamal Abu Haniyeh, along with seven other button men, were killed in dronezaps in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank in August.
Khalil’s home was demolished overnight. Abu Haniyeh’s was razed in January.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Paleostinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas sent a 4-year-old boy yesterday toward an IDF post in the Gaza Strip, the military claims, adding that forces returned the child in coordination with international organizations.
In a tweet, the army says that after troops spotted the kid nearing them in a Gaza security zone, “the child said that he was sent to the post by the Hamas terrorist organization.
“Hamas does not hesitate to use any means to cynically use and exploit civilians and children to advance its terrorism.”
It is not clear how the 4-year-old child knew “Hamas” had sent him, and the IDF doesn’t provide additional information substantiating the account.
[IsraelTimes] During operations in Qalqilya overnight, the IDF says it demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli man in the West Bank city last summer.
On June 22, Ali Khalil and other members of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell opened fire on an Israeli car in Qalqilya, killing Amnon Muchtar, 67, of Petah Tikva.
Khalil and a second terrorist involved in the attack, Jamal Abu Haniyeh, along with seven other gunmen, were killed in drone strikes in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank in August.
Khalil’s home was demolished overnight. Abu Haniyeh’s was razed in January.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.
[BenarNews] Six people were killed in a spate of attacks by suspected rebels across the border region since Saturday.
NGOs and opposition politicians blamed a spike in violence in Thailand’s Deep South on unclear governmental peace policies and stalled negotiations with rebels, after attacks by suspected bandidos krazed killers killed six people and injured about a dozen others since Saturday.
According to the Thai military, separate rebels in the mainly Malay Moslem southern border region were intensifying violence during the holy month of Ramadan, which began here on March 2.
The series of attacks on Saturday and Monday brought to 15 the corpse count from insurgency-related violence since the start of the new year in the region that lies along the border with Malaysia.
"Earlier incidents of burning electricity poles or putting up [protest] signs already reflected dissatisfaction, but the government remained passive toward these signals without any response," said Anchana Heemmina, chairperson of the Duay Jai (with Heart) Association for Humanitarian Assistance, a local NGO.
"Now new violence affecting people has begun. Part of this may be due to operational shortcomings, but the government cannot deny responsibility for not showing clear intentions regarding the peace dialogue process," she told BenarNews.
Since Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s government took office last August, there have been no signs of Malaysia-brokered peace talks restarting. Her father, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, was recently appointed as a special adviser to ASEAN to help Kuala Lumpur with the Deep South question during Malaysia’s chairmanship of the Southeast Asian bloc in 2025.
The last round of peace talks between negotiators representing Thailand and Barisan Revolusi rebels took place in Kuala Lumpur 13 months ago. Paetongtarn’s administration has still not yet appointed a new chief Thai negotiator for the peace talks, after the post was vacated in October.
Phumtham Wechayachai, the Thai deputy prime minister and defense minister, said Bangkok was ready for talks to proceed, but with conditions.
"It’s unfortunate that incidents occurred and people died. We have publicly stated that violence should cease for a period. If it can be stopped, it shows a genuine desire for negotiation. We ask for a ceasefire before negotiations," Phumtham told news hounds on Monday.
On Saturday, attackers bombed and opened fire on the Su-ngai Kolok district office and launched attacks on several other locations in Narathiwat province, killing two defense volunteers and injuring about 10 civilians, Thai authorities said.
Later that night in Sai Buri district, Pattani province, suspected rebels attacked a Ranger Regiment special task force, killing an officer and two civilians and injuring one other. At 2 a.m. Monday, button men shot and killed another village defense volunteer in Krong Pinang district, Yala province, officials said.
Lt. Gen. Paisan Nusang, the Thai army commander in the region, said bandidos krazed killers were acting deliberately during Ramadan.
"They believe committing these acts during Ramadan brings merit, as incidents typically increase during this month. I have ordered a review of incident control measures and law enforcement tracking of perpetrators according to operational plans," Paisan told BenarNews.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
[Breitbart] A masked man vandalized a 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
