HATYAI, Thailand: Gunmen fired at security personnel at checkpoints in Thailand’s insurgency-wracked south, killing 15 volunteer officers and wounding five others, police said Wednesday.
Some of the attackers may have been injured in an exchange of gunfire during the attack late Tuesday night, based on blood-stained clothing at the scene, said Col. Kiattisak Neewong, an army spokesperson who is heading to the scene in Yala province. Officials said the assailants took several weapons from the checkpoints, including an M16 rifle and 3 shotguns.
A Muslim separatist insurgency has left about 7,000 people dead since 2004 in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala. Police, teachers and other government representatives are often targets of the violence.
Kiattisak said four of the slain officers were women and one was a doctor. Thailand’s volunteer security forces in the south are raised from local villages and receive weapons training from the army but no salary. They are usually issued shotguns but also often carry personal handguns.
Pol. Col. Thaweesak Thongsongsi, a superintendent in a Yala police station, said nails had been scattered on a highway to disable vehicles entering Yala. A small explosive was found placed near an electrical pole to knock out power, and several burning tires were left at a school as well.
Attack kills 15 at southern Thailand security post
Attack kills 15 at southern Thailand security post
- Some of the attackers may have been injured in an exchange of gunfire during the attack late Tuesday night
- Thailand’s volunteer security forces in the south are raised from local villages and receive weapons training from the army
Irish farmers protest EU’s Mercosur free trade deal
- The demonstration, large by Irish standards, followed similar protests in Poland, France, and Belgium on Friday
ATHLONE, Ireland: Thousands of Irish farmers, many of whom traveled across the country on tractors, protested on Saturday against the EU’s Mercosur trade deal after a majority of EU states gave a provisional go-ahead for its largest-ever free-trade accord.
Opponents led by France, the EU’s largest agricultural producer, failed to convince enough fellow member states that the deal with South American nations would flood the market with cheap food products and undercut domestic farmers.
Under pressure from opposition parties, farming groups, and members of its own coalition, the Irish government argued that the deal lacks safeguards for what it says are weaker food safety standards in South America.
BACKGROUND
The demonstration, large by Irish standards, followed similar protests in Poland, France, and Belgium on Friday.
“It’s an absolute disgrace on behalf of the farmers and people that have put Europe where it is today,” said Joe Keogh, a farmer from the central village of Multyfarnham at the protest in the nearby town of Athlone.
“It’s going to close down the whole countryside.”
Protesters held placards reading “Don’t sacrifice family farms for German cars,” “Our cows follow the rules, why don’t theirs,” and “Sell out.”
The demonstration, large by Irish standards, followed similar protests in Poland, France, and Belgium on Friday.
While Ireland is a small exporting nation seeking to diversify beyond its reliance on the US market, it has large beef and dairy industries that are major employers.
Opponents of the deal have secured some concessions and compensation for EU farmers.
The European Parliament must approve the accord
before it takes effect, and, like France, Ireland has pledged to fight its rejection in what could be a tight vote.
“The Irish farmer is at great risk as it is. We’re a small country, we don’t have large farmers and farmers struggle to make an income from the farm as it is,” said Niamh O’Brien, a farmer who traveled from the western town of Athenry.
“But also it’s about the quality of the food we are eating. It has severe implications for both the farmer and the consumer.”
