It’s an “insurgency, not jihad.” Never mind those, uh, Al-Qaeda military training CD’s. From AFP, with thanks to Skeetstreet:
MUSLIM separatist militants in Thailand’s southern provinces are using al-Qaeda military training CDs, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said today.
“On May 19 authorities searched Jihad Witaya or Ponoh Jihad (Islamic school) and found ammunition, evidence of military training, secret documents concerning an independent Pattani state, and al-Qaeda training CDs which they have adopted for their struggle,” Mr Thaksin said during his weekly radio address.
He did not elaborate about the discs’ origin.
Education authorities have been ordered to shut down the school, whose owner remains on the run, and to find new schools for its former students, Mr Thaksin said.
A combined police and military force raided the school in the Yaring district of Pattani province yesterday, seizing evidence including the training CDs….
The Brussels-based think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), on Thursday said the violence was driven by local grievances and there was no evidence of external involvement.
“But if this situation is left to fester, it could attract jihadists from outside Thailand,” crisis group Southeast Asia project director Sydney Jones said.
ICG called the unrest an “insurgency, not jihad” but said Mr Thaksin’s policies risked pushing more Muslims towards those behind the unrest.
In his address Mr Thaksin said he had used a recent trip to Jordan to study and understand Islamic teaching, and “correct” Muslim behaviour.
“All Thai Muslim fellow countrymen do not have to worry that I will not understand you,” he said.
“I totally understand, but for people who cite religion for their own gain and hurt others, I will not give up.”
Does he really understand?