Second Hat Yai suspect now known
Songkhla police chief Pol Major Gen Suwit Chernsiri yesterday affirmed that police investigating the March 31 car bomb attack at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Songkhla's Hat Yai district issued an arrest warrant for Seri Waemamu, captured by security camera
However the other suspect wasn’t Susalan Baima, as previously presumed and reported, he said adding that police already knew about this other suspect and was gathering evidences against him to get an arrest warrant this week.
Meanwhile insurgents continued their work by torching 18 closedcircuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras fitted in three subdistricts of Yala’s Raman district.
Pol Lt Col Somprat Kankanon of Kotabaru police station together with the provincial bomb disposal squad and forensic experts yesterday morning collected evidence at the sites on the YalaKotabaru Road after insurgents torched the CCTV cameras Sunday night.
Eighteen cameras in Kotabaru, Noen Ngam and Ba Ngoy subdistricts were found damaged.
Pol Maj Gen Pira Boonliang, Yala provincial police chief, asked that police experts carefully examine CCTV footage for clues regarding the identity of the assailants. Witnesses have reported a group of teenagers riding motorcycles in the area around 23am.
The insurgents have continued their attacks in the region reportedly to upgrade the problems to the international level. Their bomb attacks in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district and Yala last week killed a total of 14 people and injured hundreds of others.
The violence that took place only two weeks before this weekend’s Songkran Festival has resulted in many tourists cancelling their bookings in hotels and tours in Songkhla. The damage caused by the violence is estimated in the ten millions of Baht.
In related news, Srisompob Jitpiromsri, a political scientist at Prince of Songkla University, yesterday commented about news that many sides had tried to talk with the insurgents that he personally agreed with such talks, which he believed weren’t negociation in detail but talks to pave way for negotiation, because they could lead to peace to the region and could reduce conflicts. However he urged that the talks should involved the various groups currently active in the region rather than one group and urged that the government could join with the opposition and the army in order to solve the problems in the region.
