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Crime
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2007-02-08 04:50:12-05
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Malaysia Says Troubled Southern Thailand Could Breed Terrorists
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Bangkok, Feb 8: Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday that the troubled region of southern Thailand could become a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists and other extremists. Syed Hamid Albar said terrorist groups could seek to build bases in Thailand's restive south, where more than 2,000 people have died since the insurgency flared up in January 2004. He did not name the groups but analysts have said that operatives of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah could move into southern Thailand to take advantage of the unrest there. "There is always a danger if people are not happy, some terrorist groups may take advantage of it ... we must not allow any breeding ground for terrorism to exist or to be nurtured," AP quoted him as telling reporters ahead of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's three-day visit to Thailand from Sunday. Muslims, who are a majority in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, often complain of being treated like second-class citizens in Buddhist-dominated Thailand, with inadequate educational and job opportunities. They share both the religion and ethnicity of Malays, the largest ethnic group in Malaysia.
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