Family of nine massacred by Muslim rebels

Sebastien Berger:

A couple and their seven children were massacred yesterday in southern Thailand, where a Muslim insurgency has killed more than 1,000 people in two years.

Officials said around 30 Islamist militants surrounded a house in the village of Bo-Ngo, firing bullets and grenades before shooting those inside with handguns.

The victims were Luteng Arwarebueza, 44, his wife, and their seven children, aged from one to 20. Nine other people in nearby houses were injured.

The governor of Narathiwat province, Pracha Tearat, said that Mr Arwarebueza was a former rebel who quit the insurgency five months ago.

He "had received constant threats from militants and the massacre was to set a precedent for other defectors," said Mr Pracha.

"They killed the entire family for revenge. It's barbaric."

Muslims make up only about five per cent of the Thai population but are the majority in the four southernmost provinces, which once formed an independent sultanate of Pattani.

They have long complained of discrimination.

The government has been powerless to contain the insurgency, which has religious and separatist elements, in spite of the presence of 30,000 troops.

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