Tensions are mounting, according to this story, and the place is already thoroughly restive — the media euphemism of choice for “jihad-afflicted” in the case of news items about Thailand. Perhaps a color-coded system for explaining the nuances of “restiveness” is in order.
“Buddhist shot dead as tensions mount in Thai south,” by Surapan Boonthanom for Reuters, June 10:
YALA, Thailand, June 10 (Reuters) – A Buddhist construction worker was shot dead and two others wounded in Thailand’s restive deep south on Wednesday as tensions escalated in the wake of a bloody attack on a mosque.
Police said four gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on labourers at a construction site, killing one woman and wounding two men in Yala, one of three violence-plagued provinces near the Malaysian border.
A note left at the scene said: “You kill our innocents, so we kill your people.”
It is noteworthy that they said “our innocents,” but “your people.”
The shooting followed Monday’s brazen attack on a mosque in Narathiwat, where 10 Muslims were killed and 12 wounded in one of the deadliest incidents this year in the deep south, where nearly 3,500 people have died in violence since 2004.
With no clear evidence, speculation was rife about the identity of the gunmen who burst into the mosque and sprayed automatic gunfire at praying Muslims.
Residents pointed the finger at security forces and a local senator said separatist militants were not to blame because the massacre was an act no Muslim was capable of….
Many said the same thing about 9/11. Sufficient evidence will yield an answer one way or another, but this crowd is not only unlikely to believe it if Muslims are implicated, but likely to seize on such a finding (or even the investigation) as an offense demanding further outrage. But in the case of the Buddhist construction worker, some jihadists apparently chose to shoot first and ask questions later, or not at all.