Thai Islamists 'recruiting in schools'
An independently written report has said Thailand’s shadowy network of Islamic separatist insurgents carries out much of its recruiting in schools in the country’s deep south, which have become “the battleground for the clash of cultures and ideologies”.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said the government is unlikely to stem the practice or the insurgency until it comes up with a political solution to local Muslims’ grievances over discrimination and mistreatment.
The report released today said that the separatists, who launched an insurgency in early 2004 that has since has left more than 3,500 people dead and 5,700 injured, are not part of the global jihadi movement exemplified by such groups as al-Qaida.
