what's everybody's view on travelling to thailand now? especially to phuket?
ever since the article below came out, i've been considering cancelling the trip that i'd booked for late-may..
should i go or should i stay? to cancel or not to cancel, that is the question... :dunno: :think:
APRIL 30, 2004
Thai rebels warn tourists to stay away from resort islands
Statement refers to top tourist spots Phuket and Krabi, and also calls on Muslims to take up arms
BANGKOK - Muslim separatists yesterday warned foreigners to stay away from Thailand's top tourist spots and called for a general uprising in the restive south after unprecedented violence in the region the day before.
Police examining rifles seized from militant groups in southern Thailand's largely Muslim Yala province yesterday. -- AP
'Persons who plan to visit Thailand now are warned not to travel to the Pattani Raya region..and the neighbouring provinces (Phuket, Pangnga, Krabi, Pattalung),' a statement by separatist group Bersatu said.
'Pattani people are not responsible if anything happens to you after this warning,' it said in English, without elaborating.
The warning covers the top resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi, the popular Krabi and Phang-nga regions and the five Muslim-majority provinces near Malaysia which are popular with tourists from across the border.
It came a day after 113 people were killed when groups mounted raids on police stations and checkpoints in the southern provinces.
The statement was posted on a website run by the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), which issued a call to arms to Muslims living in the south, where an insurgency has been waged sporadically for four decades.
'We are calling all of you to rise up against the Siamese (Thais),' it said, claiming the government's treatment of the region since it was annexed a century ago amounted to 'terrorist acts'.
Government spokesman Jacrapob Penkair said the warning was being analysed to determine whether it represented a serious threat.
Lieutenant-General Jumpon Munmai, chief of the National Intelligence Agency, said the authorities had been closely monitoring sites run by outlawed groups, and vowed to take immediate action.
'They have frequently used this website in negative ways to incite unrest,' he said. Thai Internet providers appeared to have blocked access to the site.
Bersatu is an umbrella organisation which coordinates and represents separatist movements operating in the region. All have been banned by the Thai government.
Pulo was a major force in the Muslim insurgency which raged in the south until the 1980s, when a government campaign largely ended the movement.
The last major attack it claimed responsibility for was an April 2001 bombing at the main southern train station at Hat Yai, which killed one child and injured 37 others.
Some Thai authorities have denied that Wednesday's violence was mounted by separatists, but the deputy director of the National Security Command, General Panlop Pinmanee, said Pulo and another militant group were implicated.
'It is absolutely certain that they are separatists. They were trained as guerillas for separatist actions by BRN and Pulo,' he said, referring to Barisi Revolusi Nasional.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has, however, characterised the assailants as teenagers hired by gun-running gangs who were given drugs and cash to mount raids and were armed with only machetes and a few guns.
Britain and Denmark have advised their citizens not to visit the southern provinces of Thailand. Resort islands further to the north were not covered in the warnings. -- AFP
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,248495,00.html
ever since the article below came out, i've been considering cancelling the trip that i'd booked for late-may..
should i go or should i stay? to cancel or not to cancel, that is the question... :dunno: :think:
APRIL 30, 2004
Thai rebels warn tourists to stay away from resort islands
Statement refers to top tourist spots Phuket and Krabi, and also calls on Muslims to take up arms
BANGKOK - Muslim separatists yesterday warned foreigners to stay away from Thailand's top tourist spots and called for a general uprising in the restive south after unprecedented violence in the region the day before.
Police examining rifles seized from militant groups in southern Thailand's largely Muslim Yala province yesterday. -- AP
'Persons who plan to visit Thailand now are warned not to travel to the Pattani Raya region..and the neighbouring provinces (Phuket, Pangnga, Krabi, Pattalung),' a statement by separatist group Bersatu said.
'Pattani people are not responsible if anything happens to you after this warning,' it said in English, without elaborating.
The warning covers the top resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi, the popular Krabi and Phang-nga regions and the five Muslim-majority provinces near Malaysia which are popular with tourists from across the border.
It came a day after 113 people were killed when groups mounted raids on police stations and checkpoints in the southern provinces.
The statement was posted on a website run by the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), which issued a call to arms to Muslims living in the south, where an insurgency has been waged sporadically for four decades.
'We are calling all of you to rise up against the Siamese (Thais),' it said, claiming the government's treatment of the region since it was annexed a century ago amounted to 'terrorist acts'.
Government spokesman Jacrapob Penkair said the warning was being analysed to determine whether it represented a serious threat.
Lieutenant-General Jumpon Munmai, chief of the National Intelligence Agency, said the authorities had been closely monitoring sites run by outlawed groups, and vowed to take immediate action.
'They have frequently used this website in negative ways to incite unrest,' he said. Thai Internet providers appeared to have blocked access to the site.
Bersatu is an umbrella organisation which coordinates and represents separatist movements operating in the region. All have been banned by the Thai government.
Pulo was a major force in the Muslim insurgency which raged in the south until the 1980s, when a government campaign largely ended the movement.
The last major attack it claimed responsibility for was an April 2001 bombing at the main southern train station at Hat Yai, which killed one child and injured 37 others.
Some Thai authorities have denied that Wednesday's violence was mounted by separatists, but the deputy director of the National Security Command, General Panlop Pinmanee, said Pulo and another militant group were implicated.
'It is absolutely certain that they are separatists. They were trained as guerillas for separatist actions by BRN and Pulo,' he said, referring to Barisi Revolusi Nasional.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has, however, characterised the assailants as teenagers hired by gun-running gangs who were given drugs and cash to mount raids and were armed with only machetes and a few guns.
Britain and Denmark have advised their citizens not to visit the southern provinces of Thailand. Resort islands further to the north were not covered in the warnings. -- AFP
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,248495,00.html