Thailand: Gangsters Back Terrorists

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December1, 2005: Police have discovered that most of the financial support for the Islamic terrorism in the south, comes from within Thailand. Apparently drug and smuggling gangs are funding some of the Islamic terrorism. The gangs are a major economic force in the poor south, and apparently the gang leaders see Islamic terrorism as another tool to keep the police off their backs,

November 30, 2005: In the south, two more Buddhists were killed, apparently by Islamic terrorists (who want to drive the non-Moslem minority out of the south).

November 27, 2005: Police arrested 86 Cambodian Moslems who entered the country on tourist visas, but gave conflicting answers when asked why they had come to Thailand.

November 26, 2005: The government order for all cell phones in the south to be registered, in order to make it more difficult for bombers to use cell phones as detonators, has failed because cell phone signals from Malaysia are strong enough to reach most parts of the three southern Moslem provinces.

November 25, 2005: A roadside bomb went off in the south, wounding six soldiers. Young Moslems in the area, inspired by the terrorists in Iraq, have copied their tactics, using bomb design information found on the Internet. Police say the bombs are crude, but could get more deadly as the bomb builders gain more experience.


 

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