Tanyong Limo (AsiaNews/Agencies) More than 2,000 residents of a village in the province of Narathiwat (in the south of the country) are holding two Thai soldiers hostage in a mosque. The soldiers had been searching for supposed Muslim separatists.
"Last night, two soldiers were captured in the village of Tangyong Limo in the district of Ranae after their vehicle broke down," said military spokesman, Pongsak Tntharasuangsak. "The soldiers were dressed in civil clothing and they were following a small lorry used by presumed Muslim rebels. They were investigating an ambush in which a village resident was killed and another four wounded." The spokesman did not give any details of the identity of the two soldiers taken hostage close to the border with Malaysia.
At dawn Wednesday morning, the village residents formed a human chain around the mosque. The governor of the province of Narathiwat, Pracha Taerat and an army official, Captain Trikwan Krairish, started negotiations for the release of the soldiers.
"The village residents have confirmed to negotiators that the two hostages are alive in the mosque. However, they are asking to see a Malaysian journalist, and they refuse to talk to Thai journalists," said a resident from the place.
According to unconfirmed sources, however, the two soldiers have already been killed.
In the past 20 months, around 1,000 people have been killed in violence in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand, occupied by a Muslim majority in contrast to the rest of the country which is largely Buddhist. The violence is blamed on separatist Muslims and the repression of government forces.
In recent weeks, the south of Thailand has been repeatedly struck by bombing and shooting attacks, promoting dozens of residents to seek refuge across the border in Malaysia.
The Kuala Lumpur government has offered to send its own clerics to Thailand in a bid to help the country to spread a moderate interpretation of Islam.