Gun used to shoot Narathiwat TAO chief also used in 10 other shootings
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The M16 assault rifle used in the shooting of the chief of the Tanyonglimo Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO) in Narathiwat's Rangae district might have been involved in 10 other southern cases, police said yesterday.
Orasa Ngernmak, 40, was shot at by two men riding a motorcycle on April 16 while she was driving to work. She is being treated for injuries.
Pol Colonel Nathakorn Kanchanaporn, head detective at the Southern Border Provinces Police Operations Centre, said his team’s investigation led to the capture of one suspect on the same day and the seizure two days later of the M16 as well as two magazines and 47 bullets.
“A ballistics test on three spent cartridges from the April 16 shooting scene shows that they match the M16 rifle, which was also linked to 10 other cases,” he said. The unnamed suspect was detained under martial law at a paramilitary facility in Muang district.
In neighbouring Pattani, Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Area 4 Front Command, said the past six months have seen 305 attacks and 339 casualties, which were down by 61.6 per cent and 47.4 per cent from same period in the last fiscal year.
The situation was improving, he said, adding that the past two weeks to April 22 recorded 20 attacks leaving 19 people dead and 15 wounded.
