BANGKOK (Reuters) – The United States embassy in Bangkok on Friday issued a security alert for its citizens in Thailand, a day after the secretive deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China that has drawn international condemnation.
“Similar deportations have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past,” a security alert posted on the embassy website said.
Diplomats and security analysts say Thailand’s widely-condemned deportation of 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015 led to a deadly bombing a month later at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people in what was the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Thai authorities at the time concluded the attack was linked to their crackdown on a human trafficking ring, without specifically linking the group to the Uyghurs. Two ethnic Uyghur men were arrested in connection with the incident and their trial is proceeding, despite repeated delays.
The Japanese embassy in Thailand also sent an email warning its citizens in the wake of Thursday’s deportation, the mission told Reuters.
“This is not a change in risk assessment about Thailand,” it said in an email.
The Thai foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the security alert and email warning.
Thailand is a major regional tourist destination that received 35.5 million visitors last year, with its economy heavily dependent on the sector. Thailand also draws millions of visitors from China every year.
Held in Thailand for a decade, 40 Uyghurs were sent back to China in a pre-dawn operation on Thursday, defying calls from United Nations human rights experts who said they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and “irreparable harm” if returned.
China has rejected allegations of abuse against the Uyghurs and on Friday described those as groundless lies.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Martin Petty)
