Jihadist Expansion

H/T Jihad Watch for filtering out this AP News story.

BANGKOK - Four Buddhists were shot dead yesterday in Thailand's restive south, as the government warned it may have to change its strategy to counter the rising violence.

A gunman posing as a customer whipped out a gun and shot a 59-year-old food vendor in Pattani province in front of dozens of horrified bystanders, police Lt Wichathon Timkrom said.

In nearby Yala province, gunmen killed a 34-year-old truck driver as he rode his motorcycle with his wife, Police Lt Prasom Laungphu said. His wife was not hurt.

Two other Buddhists were shot dead yesterday in Narathiwat province, police said. Gunmen fired into a grocery store in Rueso district, killing its owner Wanna Ongananurak, 35, and a second woman who was as yet unidentified, police said. Thailand's military-installed government has pledged to make peace in the south a priority, and to reverse the hardline policies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by a coup on September 19.

But with daily killings continuing unabated, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said the government may have to change course if the situation does not improve.

As was reported just one week earlier, Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern region is and has been a bed of death, destruction, hate and violence. What a coincidence. Thailand hasn't exactly been a quiet place throughout history, but the stats point to a very Islamic cause:

More than 1,800 people have died from violence in Thailand's three southernmost, Muslim-majority provinces — Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat — since an Islamic insurgency flared up in January 2004.

Somehow, 1800 deaths in just 2 years ALL concentrated in the Muslim-dominated regions of Thailand's south kinda sorta says to me, there's a connection. Let's see, how would the math work out? [Radical Islamic Fundamentalists] + [Generally Peaceful Thai Population] = 1800 Dead Thais in 2 years. Yep. Seems to addup.