EDITORIAL
Nine years after 9/11
- Published: 11/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
A lot has happened since the US terrorist attacks that interrupted Thai TV broadcasts the evening of Sept 11, 2001. Those kamikaze attacks in hijacked airliners did indeed "change the world" as predicted _ and not always for the best. Nine years on, terrorism remains a deadly threat everywhere. The use of terrorist tactics has become the most serious security threat in Thailand.
The past week has proved this. Armed gangs in the deep South tracked, shot and killed two teachers, a husband and wife aged in their mid-50s. The couple were travelling on their motorcycle. Two men on a second motorcycle pulled up alongside, and the man riding pillion shot them 10 times with an M16 assault rifle. Husband Wilas Kongkam died at the scene; his wife succumbed after she was rushed to hospital.
This is classic terrorism: the killing of innocent people to intimidate the state and society. And this week's murders of two teachers was at least partly successful, since it caused authorities to close down all 465 schools in the high risk areas of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces until next week.
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