The Jakarta Post, 5/27/2004 3:22:19 PM
FPI members say ready for jihad in southern Thailand
JAKARTA (AFP): Hardline Indonesian Muslims who demonstrated outside the Thai
embassy Thursday said they are ready to wage holy war in defence of Muslims in
Thailand's violence-plagued south.
Some 24 members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) gathered outside the
embassy and sent representatives inside to meet diplomats.
Demonstrators said they were calling for Bangkok to stop the "slaughter" of Muslims
in Thailand, a majority Buddhist nation.
"If they don't do something about it, if they stay silent, we are ready to go there," said
Muhammad Hussein, a demonstrator armed with a megaphone. "We as Muslims are
called for jihad if... even one is slaughtered."
Violence in Thailand's south escalated dramatically on April 28 when 108 suspected
Muslim rebels were killed as they mounted disastrous coordinated assaults on police
stations and checkpoints.
The attacks culminated in the controversial storming of a historic mosque, resulting in
the deaths of all 32 suspected militants hiding inside.
A Muslim insurgency raged in the south until the 1980s but the movement fragmented
and attacks had dropped off until the start of the year.
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