Army chief calls for peace, unity in South
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's visit to deep South is a strong indication that a considerable proportion of that region is peaceful and not subject to violence, Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday.
He said only 10 to 15 per cent of the area was plagued by unlawful activities, insurgency infiltration, disorder and violence. The three most-affected provinces are Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. He said the princess regularly visited the South without any fear and her latest three-day trip to the region wrapped up yesterday.
The army chief said insurgents in the South had changed their tactics with more of them adopting guerrilla methods, making it harder for the authorities to implement suppression activities. He added that the situation had intensified and become more complicated since 2004.
Calling on citizens to stop squabbling and end factional divisions, Prayuth said: “If we continue fighting amongst ourselves, we may encounter an undesirable situation one day. Stop being violent against one another and abide by the law if you don’t want the country to face a doomsday scenario.”
Meanwhile, two students were wounded when a bomb explosion hit their school bus at a bridge in Bukeh Palash village in Narathiwat’s Yi-ngor district at 7.40am yesterday. Sitinuriya Baka, 14, and Nadia Jehama, 17, both from Romklao School, suffered wounds to their arms and were taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to Narathiwat Rachanakarin Hospital.
Police believe that insurgents planted explosives on the approach to the bridge and triggered them as the school bus passed by. They believe that the insurgents were targeting an Army vehicle but missed.
Meanwhile in Yala’s Raman district, police were alerted at 7.45am about a bomb attack at a rubber plantation in tambon Jakwa, which injured a cow. The police investigation found that villagers heard the sound of an explosion at 3.50am but did not come out to check. In the morning, they found a cow with a wound on its leg by a rubber tree and alerted police.
The bomb squad also defused two booby traps nearby. Police believe that insurgents planted the explosives at the tree and at two others nearby to lure officials to the scene before setting them off.
