REPORTER: Ginny Stein
Thailand is burying its unclaimed dead. These are just a few of the victims of a day of terror across southern Thailand's Muslim provinces. After the failure of a mysterious uprising on April 28, more than 100, mainly young men, died at the hands of the nation's security forces. Abdulroning Desulong is in shock. The body of his eldest child, his 19-year-old son Dulriya, lies amongst the dead. Now he wants to take him home for burial.
MAN: (Translation): After you take him home and bury him you have to report back to an officer.
This is where Dulriya died, the centuries-old Krue Se mosque. He was one of 32 men killed here during a brutal 8-hour siege. They had gathered in the mosque the night before and after morning prayers some of them had ventured out and attacked the nearby police post. They then sought sanctuary back here at the mosque.
Three officers were killed in that first firefight. Weapons were stolen, motorbikes set alight. Police struck back, killing the first of the young militants, and shooting a passer-by.
MILITARY SPEAKER: (Translation): When the security force arrived at the mosque they circled the mosque and continuously attempted to persuade the perpetrators to peacefully surrender.
Today foreign journalists based in Bangkok have been invited to hear the military's version of events that day. It's under attack for its brutal response to the uprising, and now its PR machine is in full swing.
MILITARY SPEAKER: (Translation): After the operation, 32 of the perpetrators were found dead. Every one of them had their shoes on, which implied that there was no innocent person inside the mosque.
This is footage the Thai Government doesn't want the world to see. It's now banned from release.
Soldiers fire rocket-propelled grenades and tear gas into the Krue Se mosque. It was surrounded by scores of soldiers and police. For more than three hours, a gun battle raged. Then snipers were called in and one by one the militants were picked off.
But the battle wasn't being waged only at Krue Se mosque. Across the provinces of Yala, Songkla and Pattani it was a day of carnage. More than 200 lightly armed militants launched simultaneous raids at 11 different locations, killing six security forces. But the young militants had unknowingly set off on a suicide mission.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: Most of those who participated, the Muslim youth, were cut down. Many, I fear, were summarily executed.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven is chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee. Today he's speaking about terrorism in the south to students at Bangkok's Chulalonghorn University. Senator Kraisak says the military had been tipped off about the uprising.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: The security officers knew about what was going to happen, that the - there was a D-day and that exact areas were almost pinpointed where they were going to rise up and attack officers and in fact they were ready for it.
It's Friday, the day after Dulriya was buried and his uncle, Abu Bakar, leads the community in prayer. I've come to find out more about who the militants were and what led them to take such desperate actions. Along with Dulriya, scores of teenagers and young men were gunned down across this district. There is quiet anger here and also disbelief.
ABU BAKAR, DULRIYAS UNCLE: (Translation): If one had told us about the boy, we would have stopped him. He's a very good boy. If the boy had told us what was going on, and if... And someone must have taken him... Otherwise he'd never have done it. If I'd known, I'd have stopped him.
This is where his parents and grandmother raised Dulriya. It's a close-knit community. Relatives live side by side. Dulriya is described by his grandmother and father as a model student and a loving son.
NONG DOH, DULRIYAS GRANDMOTHER: (Translation): He was like a son to me. I never said a cross word to him. I never needed to. He has always been perfect. He grew rice near the house on our farm. He could do everything. He was great. He was doing really well at school.
ABDULRONING DESULONG, FATHER: (Translation): He was a good boy. Just tell people that. He was the great hope of the family.
But in the months leading up to his death, Dulriya had kept a hidden secret. He was readying himself to go on a dawah, a religious mission. On the night before the attacks, he told his grandmother he wanted to go back to his religious school to collect some of his belongings.
NONG DOH: (Translation): That day he left and didn't come back. He went, but he didn't come back. His mother asked, "Why hasn't he come back?" She called his friends but they said he wasn't there. No...he didn't come back.
Very little is known about the uprising. One thing that's clear is that religion played an important role. The seeds of the separatist struggle in Thailand's Muslim south were sown back in 1902 when three provinces, part of the Islamic kingdom of Pattani, were annexed by Thailand, then known as Siam. Separatist insurgencies have flared ever since.
SURIN PITSUWAN, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER: Something unique about the deep south is the religious factor, the cultural factor, the linguistic, the ethnic, the historical factor. All these are not the features of any other regions outside of the south.
Former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan is one of Thailand's few Muslim MPs. He believes the current international climate has fuelled local concerns.
SURIN PITSUWAN: I personally do not think that there was a direct involvement - when I say direct, I mean planning and strategising - by foreign elements. I think there certainly has been an indirect influence or inspiration from the international, from the regional, environment. Pictures from Afghanistan, Aceh, Mindanao, Palestine, even Pakistan and Iraq - all these footage images certainly have impressed upon a lot of impressionable minds and they share the frustration, they share the despair.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven says the reason behind the resurgence is quite simple.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: A group of religious teachers have been indoctrinating the youth secretly for some time and this led to some sort of a... a messianic insurrection with a mixture of mysticism.
This is where Dulriya went to school. It is one of the many religious boarding schools across the southern provinces that offer affordable education combined with a heavy dose of religious instruction.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTOR: (Translation): If you're a Muslim, you must pray five times a day. Mohammed teaches us to remember to pray to God. This is another way of cleansing ourselves. If we're not strong in the practice of our religion, then we are not good Muslims. If we do not practise Islam, it will die out. We must show that we are good Muslims, people who will defend our religion.
Eight students, three former students, and a religious teacher from this school all took part in the uprising. All were killed. Headmaster Mayudin Samae says there was no warning of what was to come.
MAYUDIN SAMAE, HEADMASTER: (Translation): No, not at all. The boy didn't say anything. I was not worried. It was the school holidays. The boy was at home.
This school is one of more than 27 across the south that authorities are monitoring. The headmaster says Dulriya was deeply committed to his faith.
MAYUDIN SAMAE: (Translation): He was a hardworking, serious boy devoted to his prayers and studies. He was always clean in appearance, neatly clothed, a boy of good character. He respected his teachers. He always greeted people politely. He was the person who called people to prayer.
The headmaster says what the young militants had in common was their religious devotion. But then other forces came into play and that includes inspiration drawn from the worldwide rise in Islamic extremism.
MAYUDIN SAMAE: (Translation): To begin with, it was done in a way that was religiously acceptable. But afterwards it was different. You shouldn't use young people like that. They are still young. Doing things like that is wrong. It's wrong socially, humanely and against Islamic law. It was absolutely wrong.
Dulriya's family believes that someone convinced him to participate in the uprising in the name of religion, but that is all they know.
ABU BAKAR: (Translation): If a guest preacher came and said this is what should be done, then he would do exactly as he had been told. Without any reservations. He did whatever the religious teachers told him to do.
But it's not who persuaded him that angers Dulriya's family as much as the fact that the state gave him no chance to live. His father says Dulriya remained inside the mosque. Like the majority who died during the siege, he did not take part in the armed attack on the police station.
ABDULRONING DESULONG: (Translation): I checked and I am sure there was enough time to negotiate. There was still time. They still had time to negotiate. They behaved like they wanted to bring an end to it. There was still time but he didn't get a chance. There was still time. I don't like what they did. Don't like it at all. If my son had had a knife to defend himself, I'd have accepted it. I'd have accepted it.
There is growing disquiet about the manner of their deaths. People here believe Dulriya and many others were summarily executed.
NONG DOH: (Translation): The bullet was in here. No bullets pierced the body. Only here. Exactly here.
Thailand's Interior Minister was the first senior government figure to inspect the damage done at the mosque. He was standing firm, backing the nation's troops.
REPORTER: It seems many people here are saying it was a heavy-handed response, that the military didn't need to go in all guns blazing?
BOKHIN BHALAKULA, THAI INTERIOR MINISTER: I understand that. That's why when they attack our military post or police post or other government buildings, we had to defend ourselves so these people - even though some of them are young - they came with a machine gun, with M-16, for example. They opened fire to our authority. Then those who had small guns and they tried to kill our policemen and military also. That's why under this circumstance, if you were in the situation, I think you would understand as well.
Just up the road from here - at a restaurant near this police checkpoint - 19 members of a soccer team were killed on that same day, April 28. The police claim the soccer players were heavily armed when they attacked the checkpoint. Four died during the attack but evidence points to the other 15 being arrested, handcuffed and executed after being taken to the restaurant. Human Rights Commissioner Ambhorn Meesook is also investigating the deaths. Twice she has visited the south to speak to families who buried their sons and to police officers who were there that day.
REPORTER: 15 of the 19 who were killed there were all found dead in the restaurant?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK, NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER OF THAILAND: Yes.
REPORTER: How did they die?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: They were shot. They were shot. And according to the police we talked to, they said that... well, that those young people had a lot of weapons.
REPORTER: Did they?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: We don't know. We don't know.
REPORTER: Were any police injured?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: No. At Sabayoi no policeman was killed or injured.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven has called for an investigation into the deaths of the soccer team after receiving reports they had been summarily executed.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: I've been getting too many reports from families who've been affected, from fellow senators, that in Sabayoi, in the province of Songkla, for instance, many of those who were found dead by the family were found - had been executed, rather than any signs of struggle or fighting. And out of 19, very few weapons were found and none of them were lethal - actual lethal weapons - except for knives and short swords.
Senator Kraisak, who was brought up Buddhist, says the reason so many devout young men were recruited is also linked to the Government's heavy-handed approach to its Muslim population.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: But what the government has done is that it's taken the war on terrorism to the extreme. It started investigating and insinuating and then finally to arrests of many people - but arrests of the people led to a lot of discontentment, because the people who had been arrested are well-known doctors, medical doctors, respected imams, religious teachers, people who've been working on welfare, on children, et cetera. So this caused more of a discontentment, and fear at the same time, that the Government does not understand the situation in the south.
Following the April 28 attacks, thousands of extra security forces were sent to the south. Martial law remains in force. Fear is compounding the uncertainty many people feel. In the past few weeks, an elderly Buddhist man has been beheaded and a Buddhist teacher shot dead in the grounds of the Islamic school where he taught.
Muslims fear the police. Buddhists fear Muslims. And everyone fears who could be killed next.
Rusdee Waenawae is a schoolteacher. He's also the next-door neighbour and cousin of Dulriya, who was killed in the Krue Se mosque attack. He would like to speak out about the situation in Thailand's south, but he fears the consequences.
RUSDEE WAENAWAE, SCHOOLTEACHER: If you speak or talk with the other - the wrong or the right, right information or wrong information, I don't know, maybe it's going to be dangerous for him or for them. It's just silence - only listen and then shut up, OK.
Until recently the slaying of monks, drive-by shootings of policemen and teachers and attacks on Buddhist and Chinese temples were blamed on personal conflicts or the fallout from illegal business activities. But now authorities have openly acknowledged a resurgence of the separatist militancy that brought turmoil to southern Thailand in the 1970s and '80s.
The violence has become Bangkok's biggest domestic security challenge in 20 years. Senator Kraisak warns the Government must be careful about demonising Islam. He says it runs the risk of fuelling separatist fervour and not just at home, but abroad.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: Now the problem is that what Thailand has done is created anger in the Malay states, particularly in Malaysia, in Kedah, Kelantan. Even politicians who have never spoken out against Thailand have now...beginning to give us very critical statements.
REPORTER: It's deserved?
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: It's deserved, yes. And even Indonesia, in fact, the call for jihad is just beginning. If incidents like this repeat itself I think Thailand will be in for a very troublesome time in the future.
Thailand is burying its unclaimed dead. These are just a few of the victims of a day of terror across southern Thailand's Muslim provinces. After the failure of a mysterious uprising on April 28, more than 100, mainly young men, died at the hands of the nation's security forces. Abdulroning Desulong is in shock. The body of his eldest child, his 19-year-old son Dulriya, lies amongst the dead. Now he wants to take him home for burial.
MAN: (Translation): After you take him home and bury him you have to report back to an officer.
This is where Dulriya died, the centuries-old Krue Se mosque. He was one of 32 men killed here during a brutal 8-hour siege. They had gathered in the mosque the night before and after morning prayers some of them had ventured out and attacked the nearby police post. They then sought sanctuary back here at the mosque.
Three officers were killed in that first firefight. Weapons were stolen, motorbikes set alight. Police struck back, killing the first of the young militants, and shooting a passer-by.
MILITARY SPEAKER: (Translation): When the security force arrived at the mosque they circled the mosque and continuously attempted to persuade the perpetrators to peacefully surrender.
Today foreign journalists based in Bangkok have been invited to hear the military's version of events that day. It's under attack for its brutal response to the uprising, and now its PR machine is in full swing.
MILITARY SPEAKER: (Translation): After the operation, 32 of the perpetrators were found dead. Every one of them had their shoes on, which implied that there was no innocent person inside the mosque.
This is footage the Thai Government doesn't want the world to see. It's now banned from release.
Soldiers fire rocket-propelled grenades and tear gas into the Krue Se mosque. It was surrounded by scores of soldiers and police. For more than three hours, a gun battle raged. Then snipers were called in and one by one the militants were picked off.
But the battle wasn't being waged only at Krue Se mosque. Across the provinces of Yala, Songkla and Pattani it was a day of carnage. More than 200 lightly armed militants launched simultaneous raids at 11 different locations, killing six security forces. But the young militants had unknowingly set off on a suicide mission.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: Most of those who participated, the Muslim youth, were cut down. Many, I fear, were summarily executed.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven is chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee. Today he's speaking about terrorism in the south to students at Bangkok's Chulalonghorn University. Senator Kraisak says the military had been tipped off about the uprising.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: The security officers knew about what was going to happen, that the - there was a D-day and that exact areas were almost pinpointed where they were going to rise up and attack officers and in fact they were ready for it.
It's Friday, the day after Dulriya was buried and his uncle, Abu Bakar, leads the community in prayer. I've come to find out more about who the militants were and what led them to take such desperate actions. Along with Dulriya, scores of teenagers and young men were gunned down across this district. There is quiet anger here and also disbelief.
ABU BAKAR, DULRIYAS UNCLE: (Translation): If one had told us about the boy, we would have stopped him. He's a very good boy. If the boy had told us what was going on, and if... And someone must have taken him... Otherwise he'd never have done it. If I'd known, I'd have stopped him.
This is where his parents and grandmother raised Dulriya. It's a close-knit community. Relatives live side by side. Dulriya is described by his grandmother and father as a model student and a loving son.
NONG DOH, DULRIYAS GRANDMOTHER: (Translation): He was like a son to me. I never said a cross word to him. I never needed to. He has always been perfect. He grew rice near the house on our farm. He could do everything. He was great. He was doing really well at school.
ABDULRONING DESULONG, FATHER: (Translation): He was a good boy. Just tell people that. He was the great hope of the family.
But in the months leading up to his death, Dulriya had kept a hidden secret. He was readying himself to go on a dawah, a religious mission. On the night before the attacks, he told his grandmother he wanted to go back to his religious school to collect some of his belongings.
NONG DOH: (Translation): That day he left and didn't come back. He went, but he didn't come back. His mother asked, "Why hasn't he come back?" She called his friends but they said he wasn't there. No...he didn't come back.
Very little is known about the uprising. One thing that's clear is that religion played an important role. The seeds of the separatist struggle in Thailand's Muslim south were sown back in 1902 when three provinces, part of the Islamic kingdom of Pattani, were annexed by Thailand, then known as Siam. Separatist insurgencies have flared ever since.
SURIN PITSUWAN, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER: Something unique about the deep south is the religious factor, the cultural factor, the linguistic, the ethnic, the historical factor. All these are not the features of any other regions outside of the south.
Former foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan is one of Thailand's few Muslim MPs. He believes the current international climate has fuelled local concerns.
SURIN PITSUWAN: I personally do not think that there was a direct involvement - when I say direct, I mean planning and strategising - by foreign elements. I think there certainly has been an indirect influence or inspiration from the international, from the regional, environment. Pictures from Afghanistan, Aceh, Mindanao, Palestine, even Pakistan and Iraq - all these footage images certainly have impressed upon a lot of impressionable minds and they share the frustration, they share the despair.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven says the reason behind the resurgence is quite simple.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: A group of religious teachers have been indoctrinating the youth secretly for some time and this led to some sort of a... a messianic insurrection with a mixture of mysticism.
This is where Dulriya went to school. It is one of the many religious boarding schools across the southern provinces that offer affordable education combined with a heavy dose of religious instruction.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTOR: (Translation): If you're a Muslim, you must pray five times a day. Mohammed teaches us to remember to pray to God. This is another way of cleansing ourselves. If we're not strong in the practice of our religion, then we are not good Muslims. If we do not practise Islam, it will die out. We must show that we are good Muslims, people who will defend our religion.
Eight students, three former students, and a religious teacher from this school all took part in the uprising. All were killed. Headmaster Mayudin Samae says there was no warning of what was to come.
MAYUDIN SAMAE, HEADMASTER: (Translation): No, not at all. The boy didn't say anything. I was not worried. It was the school holidays. The boy was at home.
This school is one of more than 27 across the south that authorities are monitoring. The headmaster says Dulriya was deeply committed to his faith.
MAYUDIN SAMAE: (Translation): He was a hardworking, serious boy devoted to his prayers and studies. He was always clean in appearance, neatly clothed, a boy of good character. He respected his teachers. He always greeted people politely. He was the person who called people to prayer.
The headmaster says what the young militants had in common was their religious devotion. But then other forces came into play and that includes inspiration drawn from the worldwide rise in Islamic extremism.
MAYUDIN SAMAE: (Translation): To begin with, it was done in a way that was religiously acceptable. But afterwards it was different. You shouldn't use young people like that. They are still young. Doing things like that is wrong. It's wrong socially, humanely and against Islamic law. It was absolutely wrong.
Dulriya's family believes that someone convinced him to participate in the uprising in the name of religion, but that is all they know.
ABU BAKAR: (Translation): If a guest preacher came and said this is what should be done, then he would do exactly as he had been told. Without any reservations. He did whatever the religious teachers told him to do.
But it's not who persuaded him that angers Dulriya's family as much as the fact that the state gave him no chance to live. His father says Dulriya remained inside the mosque. Like the majority who died during the siege, he did not take part in the armed attack on the police station.
ABDULRONING DESULONG: (Translation): I checked and I am sure there was enough time to negotiate. There was still time. They still had time to negotiate. They behaved like they wanted to bring an end to it. There was still time but he didn't get a chance. There was still time. I don't like what they did. Don't like it at all. If my son had had a knife to defend himself, I'd have accepted it. I'd have accepted it.
There is growing disquiet about the manner of their deaths. People here believe Dulriya and many others were summarily executed.
NONG DOH: (Translation): The bullet was in here. No bullets pierced the body. Only here. Exactly here.
Thailand's Interior Minister was the first senior government figure to inspect the damage done at the mosque. He was standing firm, backing the nation's troops.
REPORTER: It seems many people here are saying it was a heavy-handed response, that the military didn't need to go in all guns blazing?
BOKHIN BHALAKULA, THAI INTERIOR MINISTER: I understand that. That's why when they attack our military post or police post or other government buildings, we had to defend ourselves so these people - even though some of them are young - they came with a machine gun, with M-16, for example. They opened fire to our authority. Then those who had small guns and they tried to kill our policemen and military also. That's why under this circumstance, if you were in the situation, I think you would understand as well.
Just up the road from here - at a restaurant near this police checkpoint - 19 members of a soccer team were killed on that same day, April 28. The police claim the soccer players were heavily armed when they attacked the checkpoint. Four died during the attack but evidence points to the other 15 being arrested, handcuffed and executed after being taken to the restaurant. Human Rights Commissioner Ambhorn Meesook is also investigating the deaths. Twice she has visited the south to speak to families who buried their sons and to police officers who were there that day.
REPORTER: 15 of the 19 who were killed there were all found dead in the restaurant?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK, NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER OF THAILAND: Yes.
REPORTER: How did they die?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: They were shot. They were shot. And according to the police we talked to, they said that... well, that those young people had a lot of weapons.
REPORTER: Did they?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: We don't know. We don't know.
REPORTER: Were any police injured?
KHUNYING AMBHORN MEESOOK: No. At Sabayoi no policeman was killed or injured.
Senator Kraisak Choonhaven has called for an investigation into the deaths of the soccer team after receiving reports they had been summarily executed.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: I've been getting too many reports from families who've been affected, from fellow senators, that in Sabayoi, in the province of Songkla, for instance, many of those who were found dead by the family were found - had been executed, rather than any signs of struggle or fighting. And out of 19, very few weapons were found and none of them were lethal - actual lethal weapons - except for knives and short swords.
Senator Kraisak, who was brought up Buddhist, says the reason so many devout young men were recruited is also linked to the Government's heavy-handed approach to its Muslim population.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: But what the government has done is that it's taken the war on terrorism to the extreme. It started investigating and insinuating and then finally to arrests of many people - but arrests of the people led to a lot of discontentment, because the people who had been arrested are well-known doctors, medical doctors, respected imams, religious teachers, people who've been working on welfare, on children, et cetera. So this caused more of a discontentment, and fear at the same time, that the Government does not understand the situation in the south.
Following the April 28 attacks, thousands of extra security forces were sent to the south. Martial law remains in force. Fear is compounding the uncertainty many people feel. In the past few weeks, an elderly Buddhist man has been beheaded and a Buddhist teacher shot dead in the grounds of the Islamic school where he taught.
Muslims fear the police. Buddhists fear Muslims. And everyone fears who could be killed next.
Rusdee Waenawae is a schoolteacher. He's also the next-door neighbour and cousin of Dulriya, who was killed in the Krue Se mosque attack. He would like to speak out about the situation in Thailand's south, but he fears the consequences.
RUSDEE WAENAWAE, SCHOOLTEACHER: If you speak or talk with the other - the wrong or the right, right information or wrong information, I don't know, maybe it's going to be dangerous for him or for them. It's just silence - only listen and then shut up, OK.
Until recently the slaying of monks, drive-by shootings of policemen and teachers and attacks on Buddhist and Chinese temples were blamed on personal conflicts or the fallout from illegal business activities. But now authorities have openly acknowledged a resurgence of the separatist militancy that brought turmoil to southern Thailand in the 1970s and '80s.
The violence has become Bangkok's biggest domestic security challenge in 20 years. Senator Kraisak warns the Government must be careful about demonising Islam. He says it runs the risk of fuelling separatist fervour and not just at home, but abroad.
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: Now the problem is that what Thailand has done is created anger in the Malay states, particularly in Malaysia, in Kedah, Kelantan. Even politicians who have never spoken out against Thailand have now...beginning to give us very critical statements.
REPORTER: It's deserved?
SENATOR KRAISAK CHOONHAVEN: It's deserved, yes. And even Indonesia, in fact, the call for jihad is just beginning. If incidents like this repeat itself I think Thailand will be in for a very troublesome time in the future.