Muslims Beheading Buddhists in Thailand

Behead a Buddhist for Allah

The recent burning and beheading of female victims in Thailand’s southern Muslim provinces marks a renewed campaign of terror by insurgent groups, according to a Human Rights Watch statement released today.

At least three Thai Buddhist women have been killed and mutilated by insurgents since February, according to HRW.

“Southern insurgents are killing Buddhist women and spreading terror by beheading and burning their bodies,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said in the statement reports UCA News.

Muslims attack Buddhists in Thailand

Such attacks are carried out for two reasons, said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher on Thailand at HRW.

Attacks involving mutilation are intended to send a message of “terror” to scare Thai Buddhists into leaving Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces, or are carried out as “retaliation” for extrajudicial killings committed by Thai security forces, he said.

• On February 12, insurgents in Pattani province’s Yaring district shot dead Sayamol Sae Lim, 29, a female employee of Bangkok Bank, and burned her body.
• On March 14, Siriporn Srichai, a 43-year-old teacher, was shot dead while on the way to work Pattani province’s Mayo district. The attackers doused her body with gasoline and set it on fire.
• On April 2, insurgents killed a village chief from Yala province’s Bannang Sata district and two female deputy chiefs. One of the deputies, Urai Thabtong, 47, was shot and then decapitated.

Male victims have been decapitated numerous times in the past, but this marked the first case in the past 10 years when a female victim was beheaded, said Sunai.

At least 5,488 people have been killed in the southern border provinces since the conflict intensified in January 2004.

Last year, the primary focus of insurgent attacks shifted from civilians to security forces and government officials, said Sunai. “But since the beginning of this year [the attacks] have shifted back to civilians.” 

Both insurgents and Thai security forces have been responsible for serious abuses in the southern border provinces, according to HRW.

Shootout in Thailand's Muslim South

Southern Thailand's Muslim Problem:

Daily terrorism and murders

The Muslim - Malay areas are in yellow.