Informant shot dead
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Police say man's tips lead to Saturday shootout
Police believe insurgents were behind the fatal shooting of a reported informant whose tip-off led to Saturday’s deadly gunfight between security officials and suspects.
The informant was gunned down in Narathiwat’s Rusoh district yesterday morning.
Police have identified him as Mohammad Rita-uden Tarazi, 35.
“He used to be a suspect but came forward and provided cooperation to authorities,” Rusoh Police Station’s superintendent Anothai Jindamanee said.
He said Mohammad had provided many tips-off to security officials, including one that led police and soldiers to a hiding place of suspected insurgents in the district on Saturday.
When security officials were spotted, the suspected insurgents opened fire. A fierce gunfight followed for about 15 minutes. Two policemen and four suspected in-surgents died during the clash. After the exchange of gunfire ended, security officials arrested seven other suspects.
Official records show arrest warrants had been issued for two of the dead suspects and four other suspects detained in the operation.
Anothai said some field-level leaders of the RKK insurgent group died in the clash.
“Their henchmen might have then targeted our informant,” he said.
According to an ongoing police investigation, Mohammad was shot after he left home to tap rubber latex. The victim sustained two gunshot wounds, one to his head and one to his abdomen. Two spent bullets of an assault rifle were found at the scene.
Meanwhile, in Yala yesterday morning three soldiers travelling on military trucks were injured when a bomb went off close to their vehicles. The blast caused a one-metre-wide and 50-cm-deep hole at the head of a bridge the vehicles were approaching.
Police believe the bombing was staged to fan unrest in the deep South.
The ongoing wave of violence has raged in Thailand’s southernmost region for about a decade. In a bid to end the unrest, Thai authorities are engaged in a peace dialogue with the BRN. Their next meeting is likely to take place next week.
Defence Ministry permanent-secretary General Nipat Thonglek yesterday described the ongoing efforts as a dialogue.
“We have not yet reached the stage of negotiations,” he said.
He was speaking after BRN representative in the peace dialogue, Hassan Taib, reportedly told local media he wanted to see Thailand’s southernmost provinces transformed into a Malay state under the Thai government.
