Thailand: Deadly Discipline

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November 17, 2005: Government orders that cell phone users in the three southern Moslem provinces, register their phones, have failed. Only about a third of the phones (which use unregistered memory cards to activate them) were registered. Many in the south use the phones for illegal activities, and would prefer to remain anonymous. The government fears that some of the phones will be used to activate bombs.

November 15, 2005: In the south, armed men attacked a Moslem village, killing nine members of one family, and wounding eight members of two other families. Locals were unsure, at first, if the attackers were local gangsters, Islamic terrorists, or soldiers in disguise. Most people now believe the attack is part of a disciplinary action by Islamic radicals, for the head of the family had quit the Islamic militants six months ago. The Islamic radicals have been known to use death threats before, in order to maintain discipline.