2006年VOA标准英语-Southern Thai Militants Target Mobile Phon

By Ron Corben
Bangkok
22 January 2006

Thai bomb squad 1 officer defuses bombs found on the roadside in Narathiwat province, Nov. 25, 2005   
  
Muslim insurgents 2 in southern Thailand have adopted a new tactic 3 in their fight against the government. They are bombing mobile telephone relay transmission infrastructure 4 and disrupting communications in the turbulent region. The government says the attacks were probably in retaliation 5 for new restrictions 6 on cell phones aimed at preventing militants 7 from using them to detonate bombs.

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On Friday a five-kilogram bomb exploded near a mobile phone antenna 8 in the Thai province of Narathiwat, leaving one man dead.

The bombing followed attacks on Wednesday that targeted dozens of mobile phone transmission stations and antennas 9 in four southern Thai provinces, and partially 10 crippled the network.

The company most affected 11 by the attacks was DTAC - Thailand's second largest service provider.

Ketchayong Skowratananont, a department head for DTAC says the militants are targeting the mobile phone infrastructure to maximize disruption.

"I think now mobile phones are maybe just like electricity or water or transportation - we now become the public services. So then it's possible - it becomes a possible target for all the militants if they want to create some sort of crisis," he said.

But Ketchayong says the system will be back to normal within weeks and the company is stepping up security along the network.

The Thai government says the attacks are most likely in response to its recent efforts to prevent militants from detonating bombs using the signals from local mobile phones as well as those from neighboring Malaysia.

The government has stipulated 12 that all mobile phone cards must be registered and talks are underway with Malaysia to block mobile phone signals crossing into Thailand's southern border provinces.

Thai police say Friday's explosion was likely to have been triggered by a phone with a Malaysian number.

Zachary Abuza, a political science professor at Simmons College, Boston and a specialist on Islamic militancy 13 in South East Asia, says the government's registration 14 strategy has paid off.

"Guerillas are inherently conservative. They have limited capabilities 15," siad Professor Abuza. "Though there have been improvements in bomb technology, the fact is the cell phone regulations have worked."

But Abuza says the bombings are likely to continue despite the government's efforts. He says the militants' bomb-making capabilities have improved.

"The technical capacity has gone up. If you look, since 2004 they started with two-kilogram pipe bombs, they graduated, they crossed the five-kilogram threshold, they got beyond the 10-kilogram on a regular basis. They're up to 50 kilograms on occasions," he continued. "They're using different bombs - they're using TNT, they're using ammonium nitrate…."

Since the current insurgency 16 erupted in southern Thailand in early 2004, more than one thousand people have been killed in bombings, drive by shootings and other violence, with the main targets state officials and the security forces.

The Thai government blames the violence on a mix of factors - Islamic separatists, organized crime and local corruption 17.