Suspected separatists crucify informant in Thailand's deep South

Nov 29, 2007, 3:55 GMT

   Pattani, Thailand - In a new spate of atrocities in Thailand's troubled deep South, suspected separatists crucified a Thai-Muslim man for being an informant and beheaded two Thai-Buddhists, military sources said Thursday.         

   The body of Thai-Muslim Abdulloh Malohsae, an assistant headman in Rueso district, Narathiwat province, was found Wednesday nailed to a cross with his throat slashed, and a note pinned to his chest reading, 'This is how the running dogs of Thai officials come to an end.'

   It was the first time separatists had crucified their victim, pounding nails through Abdulloh's hands, feet and forehead.

   Also on Wednesday, assailants shot and beheaded Thai-Buddhists Sanguan Kaikuan, 61, and Annupong Pomvian, 21, in Sisakorn district of Narathiwat, 800 kilometres south of Bangkok.

   Both men were travelling salesmen from north-east Thailand.

   Army spokesman Colonel Akharra Thiprot said the brutal slayings were acts of revenge against the military for cracking down on insurgents in Narathiwat and restoring peace to the area.

   'The situation in this area has improved so the insurgents are trying to turn back the positive developments,' said Akharra.

    Thailand's so-called deep South, comprising the three border provinces Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, has been in turmoil since January 2004 when Muslim militants raided an army arms depot in Narathiwat and stole more than 300 war weapons, unleashing a military crackdown on the long-simmering separatist movement.

   The region has seen a surge in violence ever since, with more than 2,600 people falling victim to clashes, shooting, bombings and beheadings.                  

   Nearly 80 per cent of the 2 million people living in the three southernmost provinces of predominantly Buddhist Thailand profess to be Muslims.

   The three-province area, which borders Malaysia, was an independent Islamic sultanate known as Pattani for hundreds of years before being conquered by Bangkok in 1786. The area came under direct rule of the Thai bureaucracy in 1902.

   A separatist struggle took off in the 1950s, fuelled by government efforts to suppress the local culture and religion.