Thai Muslims protest army killing of teenagers

Bangkok, Apr 14: Hundreds of Thai Muslims staged an angry protest in the strife-torn south today after soldiers killed three Muslim teenagers in what police said was an act of self-defence.

''They were angry about last night and they want to talk with the governor this afternoon,'' Somjitr Nasomyon, police chief in Pattani, one of the three restive southern provinces, said.

The latest tensions erupted yesterday when a group of 10 Muslim teenagers started walking towards soldiers trying to put out a fire at a mobile phone base station suspected to have been lit by Muslim insurgents.

''They didn't know what to do but to protect themselves,'' Somjitr said, referring to the soldiers who opened fire, killing three teenagers.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the three-year separatist insurgency in the region where 80 per cent of people are ethnic Malay Muslim.

Somjitr said the situation in Pattani was under control, although the protesters had formed a barricade across a road to stop movement of traffic.

Security has been tightened across Thailand, including in Bangkok, for New Year celebrations this weekend to prevent a repeat of the serial blasts of Dec 31 that killed three people in the country's capital.

Officials say the attacks in Bangkok were probably the work of Muslim militants from the south.

Reuters