Thailand bombs mar start of Muslims' holy month
Source: Agencies |
July 21, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
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MILLIONS of Muslims began fasting yesterday at the start of the holy month of Ramadan in Indonesia and Thailand, where the somber occasion was marred by two bomb blasts that killed one person and injured seven others, officials said.
Followers in Malaysia, Bangladesh and India will start fasting today or tomorrow.
Muslims believe God revealed the first verses of their holy book, the Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, the start of which is determined by the sighting of the new moon.
The holy month, however, got off to an ominous start in southern Thailand, where most Thai Muslims live amid an ongoing insurgency for autonomy.
A car-bomb detonated in the morning, sending a huge plume of black smoke from a row of four-story buildings in a commercial area of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province.
Several shops and residences caught fire, said police spokesman Maitree Chimcherd. He said seven people were injured, including four who were briefly trapped on the roof of a burning building.
Maitree blamed a group of Muslim insurgents for the homemade bomb hidden in a pickup truck parked in front of a computer store.
On Thursday night, a roadside bomb killed a villager and wounded his companion while they were hunting for squirrels in woods in Yala province.
Still, residents of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces flocked to local markets yesterday to shop for fresh and dried fruit including date palm to be consumed at dusk after the first day of fasting ends.
Usually, countries have differing dates for the start of Ramadan because of the different ways of calculating when the new moon crescent is sighted. Sometimes there are differences between Muslim groups, even in the same country.
The Muhammadiyah group, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, believed that the crescent should have appeared after sunset on Thursday. But the government said it could not be seen, hence Ramadan has to start today, it said.
In Bangladesh too, Ramadan is likely to start today.
However, a national moon sighting committee was sitting last night to make an official declaration.
In India, where about 13 percent of the 1.2 billion people are Muslim, Ramadan is also most likely to start today.
Followers in Malaysia, Bangladesh and India will start fasting today or tomorrow.
Muslims believe God revealed the first verses of their holy book, the Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, the start of which is determined by the sighting of the new moon.
The holy month, however, got off to an ominous start in southern Thailand, where most Thai Muslims live amid an ongoing insurgency for autonomy.
A car-bomb detonated in the morning, sending a huge plume of black smoke from a row of four-story buildings in a commercial area of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province.
Several shops and residences caught fire, said police spokesman Maitree Chimcherd. He said seven people were injured, including four who were briefly trapped on the roof of a burning building.
Maitree blamed a group of Muslim insurgents for the homemade bomb hidden in a pickup truck parked in front of a computer store.
On Thursday night, a roadside bomb killed a villager and wounded his companion while they were hunting for squirrels in woods in Yala province.
Still, residents of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces flocked to local markets yesterday to shop for fresh and dried fruit including date palm to be consumed at dusk after the first day of fasting ends.
Usually, countries have differing dates for the start of Ramadan because of the different ways of calculating when the new moon crescent is sighted. Sometimes there are differences between Muslim groups, even in the same country.
The Muhammadiyah group, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, believed that the crescent should have appeared after sunset on Thursday. But the government said it could not be seen, hence Ramadan has to start today, it said.
In Bangladesh too, Ramadan is likely to start today.
However, a national moon sighting committee was sitting last night to make an official declaration.
In India, where about 13 percent of the 1.2 billion people are Muslim, Ramadan is also most likely to start today.
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