After the new Muslim leader announced he would hold talks with the jihadists. Why would the jihadists kill fellow Muslims? Because of the phenomenon of takfir, or the declaring of other Muslims to be apostates or heretics or hypocrites, and thus lawfully killed.
“Four killed in Thailand by suspected Islamic militants,” from AFP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
YALA, Thailand – Three Muslims and a Buddhist have been killed in separate shootings by suspected Islamic militants in Thailand’s troubled south, police said on Sunday.
A Muslim rubber plantation tapper was shot dead Sunday morning in Pattani, one of three southern provinces bordering Malaysia that has been plagued by separatist violence and other unrest.
His death followed three killings late Saturday.
In Pattani, a Muslim policeman was shot dead as he travelled to work, while in Yala province a Muslim villager who worked as an informant for the military was shot dead in front of his house.
In Narathiwat province, a 65-year-old Buddhist villager was shot four times by two men on a motorcycle as he walked home. He died instantly….
Local government officials, police, military and Buddhists are often targeted by Islamic insurgents but Muslims seen as sympathetic to the government are also attacked.
The latest attacks came after Thailand’s coup leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, said he had agreed to hold talks with separatist insurgents in the Muslim-majority south.