Two men killed in Narathiwat shooting
Two men were shot dead early Wednesday by presumed insurgents while driving in Bacho district of this southern border province, according to local police.
Prapai Kongtong, 57, and Suk Daengkwan, 63, were gunned down by an unknown number of assailants armed with M16 assault rifles, Pol Capt Mhad-useng Maosani of Paluka Samo police station said.
Prapai was driving a Pattani-registered pickup truck with Suk as a passenger from Pattani’s Mai Kaen district to buy food at a market.
As the vehicle was travelling along a road in Narathiwat’s Bacho district, gunmen in a following pickup shot at the two men.
Prapai lost control of his vehicle, which veered off the road and hit a tree.
They apparently tried to leave their vehicle but failed to escape the attackers, who continued shooting from back of the pickup truck.
Police said the shooting was a continuation of the daily unrest in the region.
The violence has continued in the three southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat since 2004, leaving thousands wounded and over 5,000 people dead, including residents, government workers and suspected insurgents.
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Services to north, northeast resume as bogies cleared from track
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) cleared the four oil tanker train bogies that derailed Tuesday afternoon in Bangkok’s Don Mueang district, allowing northern and northeastern rail services to resume from 1am today.
The service to Ubon Ratchathani was the first to resume following the removal of the oil tankers from the rails. One track is to be used temporarily as the Bangkok bound track requires repair.
The oil tanker carriages derailed at around 3pm Tuesday, blocking the tracks and leaking 200,000 litres of crude oil in the immediate area. The 27-carriage train was en route from Phitsanulok to Bangkok to deliver oil to the Bangchak Petroleum refinery.
Bangchak and SRT workers were transferring the remaining oil into trucks for delivery to the refinery, with only two tanker carriages left to empty.
SRT officials said that when the oil was unloaded, the carriages would be pulled into the Bang Sue locomotive workshop and the damaged rail track would be repaired so that normal dual track operations could resume, a procedure which was expected to be completed in two days.
The initial estimated damage was around Bt160 million.
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