Update: Government Report Condemns Police Attack on Mosque

August 3, 2004

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: AP

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=731&e=10&u=/ap/20040803/ap_on_re_as/thailand_mosque_report

On August 3, 2004 the Associated Press reported, "Thai security officials were wrong to attack a mosque where armed militants had taken refuge and used excessive [force], a government-appointed commission reported Tuesday. The conclusion that security forces overreacted when they killed 32 Muslim militants with grenades and automatic rifle fire in the southern Pattani province had been acknowledged Saturday by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The commission's report on the April 28 assault on the Krue-sae mosque was released Tuesday at the weekly Cabinet meeting. The group was headed by a former judge, Suchinda Yongsoonthorn, and comprised [of] prominent Muslim academic[s] and legal experts. 'The tactic of laying siege to the Mosque, surrounding it with security personnel, in tandem with the use of negotiation with the militants, could have ultimately led to their surrender,' the report said. It said that resolving the standoff at the mosque 'through peaceful means would have been more appropriate and better served the interests of the security personnel than the use of force.'"