Insurgent suspect killed in shoot-out
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A suspected insurgent leader wanted by the authorities was killed in a shoot-out with police yesterday.
Pattani resident Madari Tayeh, 42, was found shot dead in a house in Yala’s Raman district late in the morning, according to police. He and four other men had been involved in a gunfight with police acting on an arrest warrant.
An AK-47 assault rifle and an 11mm pistol were found beside his body, police said.
The gunfight broke out during a three-hour stand-off during which police surrounded the house. The four other men escaped into a rubber plantation behind the house.
A policeman, Corporal Preecha Thinchana, was injured during the shootout.
Madari was believed to be a leader of the insurgent RKK group, which stands for “Runda Kumpulan Kecil”, a Malay phrase that means “small patrol groups”. Police said he was suspected of being involved in attacks in Yala, including one in 2005 that killed four soldiers.
Meanwhile, a group of Army patrolmen was ambushed by a roadside bomb in Pattani’s Ma-Yor district yesterday.
Two soldiers, Sergeant Waeloh Haleng and Sitthisak Sirisuk, were injured in the incident and sent to Pattani Hospital for treatment. They were part of a six-man patrol providing security for schoolteachers.
The home-made explosive device was put in a fire extinguisher and buried in the road. The battery-operated device was detonated using a 200-metre-long wire.
