HAT YAI, Thailand — Gunmen presumed to be Muslim insurgents stormed a Buddhist temple in southern Thailand, killing two monks and wounding two others, police said Saturday.
The Friday night attack in Narathiwat province was the latest in a recent upsurge of violence in the area, which since 2004 has been plagued by a separatist insurgency that has claimed about 7,000 lives. Narathiwat is one of Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the Buddhist-dominated country.
Witnesses described seeing armed men arrive at the temple on motorcycles, open fire with automatic weapons and then storm inside where they shot the monks in their quarters, according to Thai news report. One of those killed was the temple’s abbot.
The temple attack was one of several violent incidents Friday in Narathiwat, including a roadside bombing that wounded five members of security forces, and a shootout between paramilitary rangers and five armed men that left one of the gunmen dead. The others escaped.
The attacks have occurred during an effort to revitalize peace talks between the Thai government and some insurgent groups, and may be an effort to scuttle them by stoking popular anger and inviting heavy-handed retaliation. Analysts say the most militant group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, is not taking part in the talks.
Buddhist temples often serve as community centers, and monks are revered in Thailand. There is fear that attacks on temples could trigger vigilante action by Buddhist civilians against Muslims.
“This is a very brazen act to drive a wedge among people,” Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, a human-rights defender, told The Associated Press. “The cause of the conflict in the south is originally between the government and locals. But this is an attempt to turn the conflict to be between two religions.”