80 Thai Muslims suffocate after arrest at protest

Almost 80 Muslim demonstrators arrested in southern Thailand suffocated after being crammed into army lorries, the Thai authorities admitted yesterday.

Soldiers guard arrested protestors in Thailand
Soldiers guard arrested protestors in Thailand

Only six people were previously believed to have died when security forces opened fire to quell rioting on Monday in the Muslim-majority region adjoining the border with Malaysia.

The huge new toll, and the manner of the deaths, are bound to add to tensions and highlight methods to quell a 10-month rebellion that has claimed 400 lives.

In a comment likely to inflame Muslims, Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, blamed the Ramadan fast for weakening those who died. A Muslim leader predicted that "hell will break out".

The men died after protesters in Tak Bai demanded the release of six village defence volunteers, arrested on suspicion of giving their weapons to militants.

Protesters allegedly threatened to storm a police station, and police and soldiers broke up the demonstration, killing six and arresting 1,300.

"After we brought people who were arrested into detention, we found that another 78 people were dead," said Manit Suthaporn, a justice ministry official. "According to the investigation, they died because of suffocation."

Pornthip Rojanasunan, chief forensic expert at the justice ministry, said the men could have been gagged to death. "It wasn't a case of not enough air to breathe, but they might have had something stuffed in their mouths or nostrils," she said. "Two or three had broken necks."

About 50 Muslims gathered at the Inkayut army compound, begging for news of relatives. "I don't know if my husband's alive or not," wept Piwarat Arwae, 38. "He took our two children to school and must have dropped by at the protest on the way back. He never came home."

Mr Thaksin said: "This is typical. It's about bodies made weak from fasting. It is not about someone attacking them."

Mr Thaksin added that the protesters had been mainly motivated by separatism. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but unrest and separatism has simmered in the south for three decades.

"I cannot allow the separatists to exist on our land," he said. "We cannot allow these people to harass innocent people and authorities any longer. We have no choice but to use force to suppress them."

Soldiers guard arrested protestors in Thailand