April 30,2008:
In the south, a bomb placed under an army truck went off, killing two
soldiers and wounding five others. Another trucks was attacked, killing the
driver. These attacks were expected, as Islamic activists had been urging
people to observe the army attack on a mosque four years ago, and the deaths of
32 Islamic radicals who were using the mosque as a base. This is seen as the
start of the current Islamic insurrection, which has killed nearly 3,300 so
far. The Islamic militants have not made any progress in achieving their goal
of establishing an Islamic state in mostly Moslem southern Thailand (and
eventually converting the other 97 percent of Thais to Islam). As much as the
Malay southerners resent being ruled by Thais (as has been the case for about a
century), the endless violence by the Islamic terrorists has become unpopular,
and the terrorists spend more and more of their time attacking pro-government
Moslems. Another failed Jihad (holy war).
April 27,
2008: Police smashed a false-identity
documents operations, seizing over a thousand false passports, and making
several arrests. Two of the three men arrested were foreigners (from Bangladesh
and Myanmar). Thailand has long been a favorite base for false document gangs,
which serve criminals, and terrorists.
April 25,
2008: Eight armed pirates in a speed
boat got aboard a tanker off Malaysia, and robbed the crew. The attack was made
at night, and the pirates got away with it.
April 20,
2008: Violence in the south continues. A bomb went off in a market place in the
south, wounding 13 people. Terrorists killed two guards, who were watching over
an election polling place set up in a mosque. Incidents like this occur on an
almost weekly basis, with one or two people dying a day because of the
terrorism.