Security tightened in South after spate of attacks
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Police in the three southernmost provinces are being forced to beef up security during the New Year holidays after 10 bomb and gun attacks in Yala and Pattani killed three people and injured 20 others.
On Wednesday, insurgents launched attacks in Yala’s Bannang Sata, Than To and Krong Pinang districts and in Pattani’s Ma-Yor, Kapho and Sai Buri districts. Also on Wednesday morning, a police flat in Narathiwat’s Si Sakhon district came under a bomb attack but nobody was injured.
Karin Ma, 54, one of the three villagers wounded in the attack on a military post in Yala’s Bannang Sata district, was pronounced dead at 1.24am yesterday. However, his 17-year-old son, Muhammadnuma, is showing positive signs of recovery from gunshot wounds in his shoulder and hand.
The two others killed were defence volunteers Kodech Manhor and Kumakuta Waba, who were ambushed and fatally shot by insurgents while riding a motorbike home in Pattani’s Kapho district on Wednesday. Police have collected 20 spent cartridges from the scene.
Pol Lt-General Paithoon Chuchaiya, chief of the Police Operation Centre for Southern Border Provinces, said yesterday that in addition to the five attacks each in Yala and Pattani, suspected insurgents had also aimed M79 grenades and M16 assault rifles at Muang Yala’s Lammai police station, resulting in a brief gunfight. A similar attack was reported at a military outpost in Bannang Sata district, resulting in three villagers getting injured from stray bullets, and at a border patrol police outpost in Than To district, he added.
Paithoon also cited a major attack in Pattani’s Ma-Yor district, when suspected insurgents shot shopkeeper Sujinda Seubseng at 7.10pm to lure police and security officials to the scene before detonating a hidden bomb, which injured more than 20 people, including 10 police officers, four defence volunteers and five soldiers. Three of the policemen injured are in serious condition.
Another policeman was shot and injured in a separate incident in Muang Pattani district on Wednesday.
Saying that police was investigating the attacks, Paithoon revealed that since insurgents often launch violent attacks during the New Year holidays, the police had no choice but to beef up security.
Pattani police chief Maj-General Pichet Pitisetpan said Sai Buri, Kapho and Ma-Yor districts were the active areas of Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) chief Masore Deurama and Muhammad Jajayarang, but added that police needed to probe further before confirming if the group was behind the attacks. Police also suspect that drug traffickers might be behind these attacks, because Kapho has seen drug dealers being arrested and war weapons being seized.
In related news, spokesman of the Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command, Maj-General Akara Tiparoj, initially said the attacks might be an attempt by the insurgents to cause chaos and discredit security officers. Akara said an urgent meeting had been held among senior officers of the three southernmost provinces to assess the situation and ensure that security measures are more efficient.
