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Alan Stepney · Centurion Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 853 Location:

From the BBC.

Reports into the deaths of Thai Muslims in clashes with security forces last year accuse the police of negligence and excessive force.
The two reports were released just days before the anniversary of the Krue Se mosque siege that left 32 people dead.

One report says police who stormed the mosque were heavy-handed, and should have persevered with negotiations.

In another incident at Takbai, police were criticised for their part in the deaths of more than 80 protesters.

Investigations into the two incidents were conducted by independent panels last year, although the government made only some of their findings public.

The newly-formed National Conciliation Commission committed itself to releasing the full reports as part of its efforts to restore peace to the troubled south.

"The commission realises that disclosure of both reports will be just the beginning of the process to unveil truth in our society," the commission's chairman Anand Panyarachun told Thai media.

But some sections of the reports remain private - a measure which Mr Panyarachun says is aimed at protecting the rights of witnesses, and preventing the release of details which could harm the reconciliation process.

'Negligence and ignorance'

One report dealt with the storming of Krue Se mosque on 28 April last year - part of a day of violence across the south of Thailand in which 106 militants were killed in a series of clashes.

The report found that while the police who took part in the mosque killings did need to use weapons to protect themselves, they did not give discussions a chance to work.

"Surrounding the mosque together with negotiation efforts could have led [the militants] to surrender," the report said.

Instead security forces resorted to a disproportionate use of force, according to the Bangkok Post.

The investigation also identified several senior officials who were involved in the siege.

The other report looked into the deaths of Muslim demonstrators in Takbai, southern Narathiwat province, on 25 October 2004.

The incident outraged locals because seven people were shot during clashes with police and 78 others died - mainly of suffocation - when they were detained, bound and piled into military trucks.

The report found that most of the deaths stemmed from the "negligence and ignorance of superiors who let low-ranking officers handle the transfer of protesters in army trucks in a hasty and reckless manner," the report said.

Again, several senior officials were singled out for criticism.

More than 600 people have been killed in violence in Thailand's largely Muslim south over the past year, and the government has been criticised for its heavy-handed tactics towards the insurgents.

The unrest is showing no sign of abating. Two security officers died on Sunday when a bomb went off at checkpoint in Narathiwat province, near the Malaysian border.

fishead · Cohort Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 321 Location:

Since Alan is a resident expert on the Philippines is it true the American army used to bury muslims wrapped in pig skins.
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You've got another five seconds say something really outragious
Bill Grundy

Alan Stepney · Centurion Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 853 Location:

I have never heard of it.
As I have several dozen books on Philippine history, had it been common, I expect I would have seen it mentioned.

Logically, I very much doubt it.
If you read about the American fighting in the Philippines, firstly against the Spanish, and then against the Filipinos who wanted idnependance, the main object seemed to swing between killing as many as possible, and trying to convert them to "good Americans".
Some soldiers reckoned it was the same as fighting the Indians (red variety) and looked upon the Filipinos in the same way.

Given that, I doubt anyone would bother about burying the dead at all.
"Leave that to their own people."