Venue for Pattani shooting inquiry moves to barracks
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An inquiry session at the Pattani provincial hall into the killing of four men suspected of being insurgents was suspended yesterday over security concerns after none of the victims' relatives or local residents showed up.
However, the session was started again later inside a military barracks in the province.
Pattani Governor Weeraphong Kaewsuwan said the inquiry had been initially cancelled without prior notice because of intelligence tip-offs and because many uninvited people had shown up.
This inquiry session had been requested by relatives of the four men who were shot dead and the 22 other men who are in custody after a security blockade on March 25 in Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district. The relatives insisted the four men were not insurgents and that the 22 were being held without sufficient evidence.
Investigation was to be completed yesterday, but that could not be done as few of those invited showed up to give statements. Security officials said 18 of the 22 men had been released, while the remaining four were still in custody for further questioning.
Local residents, meanwhile, were angered, saying the killing of the four men was excessive violence and that the blockade had been conducted without prior notice and was in violation of agreements between officials and local community leaders.
