Source: Bangladesh-web.com
A human rights panel accused three top Thai officials of being responsible for the deaths of more than 87 Muslims in southern Thailand.
The panel was appointed by the government to investigate the Oct. 25 incident, when Thai security forces broke up a riot in southern Narathiwat.
More than 87 Muslim protesters died, including 78 in police custody. Most were suffocated after being locked and piled into the backs of army trucks.
"Among those responsible are Fourth Army Region commander Lt-General Pisarn Wattanawongkeeree, assistant national police chief Lt-General Wongkot Maneerin and Interior Ministry deputy permanent secretary Siva Saengmanee," the commission chairman Pichet Soonthornpipit was cited as saying in the Nation newspaper.
He added that the deaths occurred because officials mishandled the situation. He also warned that other unidentified officials were responsible for the deaths.
The incident prompted widespread international concern and accusations that the government had used excessive force to break the riot.
Human rights groups said that the arrested protesters were piled into the back of flat-bed army trucks and that they suffocated on the hours-long journey to an army base.
The panel didn’t say what action should be taken against the officials accused in its report, which Pichet said was unlikely to be made public in its full-form.
He said that in addition to the 78 who died in military trucks, seven more were shot dead during the breakup of the riot, while seven others went missing.
Muslims make up about five percent of the large Buddhist population but they have long complained of discrimination.