PM calls for more safety zones in South

The added measures would be funded by the three southernmost provinces’ budgets.

 

The move follows a car bombing in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district last Friday – the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan – which injured eight people. 

 

Yutthasak said a workshop would be held in early August to discuss the additional zones. He said Yingluck wanted authorities to fund the adjusted operations using the remaining funds in the three southernmost provinces’ budgets for this fiscal year. 

 

Officials continued to investigate reports that insurgents were holding meetings to plan attacks during Ramadan. Officials were also looking for stolen vehicles, Yutthasak said, and would install a recently approved batch of 300 closed-circuit TV cameras soon. 

 

Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, after a meeting with Narathiwat officials yesterday to assess the situation and adjust operations, said military officials in the restive region were doing their best and no one should say anything to dishearten them. He said they had to perform around 3,500 missions a day, so it was understandable that mistakes could occur. When they did, they would be addressed, he said. 

 

More checkpoints would be set up and more rapid-deployment units would be dispatched to inspect areas where additional security cameras were installed, Prayuth said, adding that military officials had also trained police and members of the public in area-protection strategies.