Cough Syrup and Narcotics, Amulets and Charms: Muslim holy warriors get ready to kill

Suspected Muslim insurgents set fire to Thai-Malaysia rubber warehouse
BANGKOK: Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand set fire Wednesday to a large warehouse for rubber jointly owned by Malaysians and Thais. Smoke blanketed large areas of Yala province as more than 30 fire trucks struggled to douse the flames, police Col. Col. Phumphet Pipatpetphum said. The fire followed a bold, coordinated assault by separatist rebels which killed eight people and wounded nearly 70 in a 24-hour period beginning Sunday night. Three people were arrested shortly after the attacks, Lt. Gen. Viroj Buajaroon, regional commander for the south, said Tuesday....

Who were these brave, cough syrup swilling, charm carrying "insurgents' ?
Viroj said it was still unclear which group was responsible for Sunday's attacks - which included 29 bombings within 45 minutes - but the three arrested suspects had linked the violence to an Islamic militant group and given information about others involved. He said some were trained by a group known as Runda Kumpulan Kecil, but declined to provide more details. The shadowy organization is believed by some terrorism experts to refer more to an informal network of separatists who allegedly received indoctrination and training in Indonesia. The insurgents have not announced their goals, but are believed to be fighting for a separate state under Islamic administration. Viroj said the suspects carried amulets and charms on their bodies and took narcotics and cough syrup to bolster their courage before carrying out the attacks.

The impact:
The fire at the largest rubber warehouse in Yala, owned by the Southern Land Rubber Co., a joint venture between Thai and Malaysian businessmen, started shortly after midnight and it was still burning more than eight hours later. Kiert Kitikulseritham, the company manager, said all 400 tons of rubber sheets were believed to have been destroyed, with losses estimated at 400 million baht (US$11.8 million; euro9 million). He said the company's 500 workers may lose their jobs. "We will discuss what to do next but I think we may have to shut down the company because there is no safety here. We risk both life and property from the ongoing violence,'' Kiert told reporters... Rubber production is one of the few viable industries in the rural provinces of southern Thailand and the Yala company was the only major smoked rubber sheet enterprise in the deep south.