Latest bomb attack in Yala kills 1 soldier, hurts another
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A soldier was killed and another injured when a roadside bomb exploded early yesterday in Yala's Yaha district. Police suspect separatists led by Saudi Satapor were behind the attack.
Sergeant Major First Class Pradit Saranatrai, 52, and Private Yutthana Daraporn, 22, were rushed to Somdet Prayupparaj Yaha Hospital, where the former succumbed to his injuries.
Pradit was leading the six-strong motorcycle team escorting teachers from Ban Katong School when the 5-kilogram bomb exploded at 7.48am at Ban Kakong Bridge in Tambon Katong.
Yaha police investigators believe insurgency leader Saudi Satapor, who operates in Yaha and Katong districts, was behind the attack. Saudi is wanted for many national security cases including a bomb attack that killed two monks and injured two soldiers in Tambon Baro in May and another bomb attack that killed nine people in Tambon Katong in January.
Meanwhile, a village headman-assistant, Romeulee Maseng, 47, was shot at 2am yesterday in Tambon Ai Yer Weng in Yala’s Betong district. Romeulee had apparently stopped by a teashop on the Yala-Betong Road after running errands in Bannang Sata district. Two gunmen on a motorcycle also stopped at the teashop and one, pretending to be a customer, shot at Romeulee three times, hitting him in the arm, the stomach and the leg. Romeulee fired back but the gunmen escaped.
Police suspect the attack stemmed from a local political conflict, as Romeulee had acted as a canvasser for the Tambon Administrative Organisation President in the recent election, although they did not totally rule out personal conflict and insurgency in the South.
