BANGKOK, 9 March 2013 – Residents of a village north of Phuket have claimed that they witnessed the killing of between 2-15 Rohingyas by the Thai military.
Villagers recalled that some Thai military personnel were on February 22 transferring about 20 Rohingya people from a boat of over 100 people into some much smaller vessels.
As some of the Rohingyas resisted being separated from their families, they jumped into the sea, and the Thai military opened fire on them, the witnesses recalled. The witnesses claimed to have seen between two to 15 resulting deaths.
Three Rohingya survivors have confirmed the details with a reporter from a Phuket-based newspaper, Phuketwan, and an Australian television crew. The survivors, aged 16, 20 and 25, have been sheltered by sympathetic villagers.
Commander of Thai Navy Region 3, Tharathorn Khajitsuwan, who was responsible for navy patrols in the area, refused to comment.
Earlier this month, 97 Rohingya asylum seekers died on a boat that had been left to float for 25 days. Survivors on the boat told foreign journalists that their boat had been intercepted by the Thai navy, who forcibly removed the boat's engine. The Thai navy denied the allegation, but no investigation has been initiated.
In 2009, it was revealed that the Thai military had been using the policy of casting Rohingya asylum seekers adrift at sea, resulting in hundreds of deaths. After the revelation, the then-Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, abandoned the policy.
(NNT: Prach Panchakunathorn)
Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/03/09/villagers-survivors-recall-killings-of-rohingyas-by-thai-military/
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