Two suspects in Narathiwat police residential building attack arrested

During the urgent press conference at 11am on Monday, Police Commissioner Pol General Damrongsak Kittiprapas did not state when the two suspects were arrested but only revealed that the Narathiwat court had approved arrest warrants for nine suspects of whom two had been arrested.

The two arrested suspects were identified as Abdulmubin Lateh and Usman Sani.

Seven other suspects wanted for the car bomb attack on the police residential building in Narathiwat’s Muang district on November 22 were identified as Hasbuloh Sani, Abdulmathin Maha, Abdulhafish Duereh, Wari Sapadi, Isal Saleh, Saipurusman Maha, and Muhamadhafish Jehduerameh.

The attack killed one policeman, injured 25 policemen and their family members living in the building, and damaged 70 apartment rooms.

Damrongsak told the press conference that police investigators had tracked down the record of the black Isuzu pickup truck, in which the the deadly homemade bomb was hidden, and found that it had been sold and resold since 2021.

Damrongsak said it was owned by a woman, Saina, who put it up for sale on a Facebook page. She sold it to two men on November 5 in Tambon Kaluwoh in Muang district.

Damrongsak said one of the two men who came to buy the pickup was Hasbuloh, who is among the seven absconding suspects.

Damrongsak said investigators had checked security camera feeds, which revealed that the nine suspects had travelled from Tak Bai district in six vehicles. Five of the vehicles have been seized.

The feeds from security cameras had helped police arrest the two suspects. The National Police chief claimed that the two suspects had admitted to collaborating with the seven others to launch the bomb attack.

Speaking at the same press conference, Damrongsak said investigations into the second case of bomb attack – the double railway attacks in Songkhla province – had made good progress.

In the second case, Muslim insurgents planted a bomb on the railway tracks between Klong Ngeh station and Padang Besar station in Songkhla’s Sadao district. The explosion on December 3 had led to the derailment of a freight train.

Then on December 6, the same group of insurgents allegedly detonated a second bomb when railway officials were trying to salvage the derailed train and fix the damaged tracks. The explosion killed three railway workers and injured four others.

Damrongsak told the press conference that the double attacks were similar to attacks carried out by a group led by Asman Pohlor in 2021.

He said police had arrested a man, Jirasak Pengloh, with four guns in Songkhla’s Chana district on February 3 last year. Jirasak had reportedly told police that he was ordered by Asman to monitor the railways for carrying out bomb attacks, so police had obtained an arrest warrant for Asman.

Damrongsak admitted that police had been tipped off about the attacks on the railway, but the double attacks in December had still occurred.

Jirasak also told police that some 17 insurgents of his group were operating in four districts of Songkhla, but two had been arrested, four killed and the rest were absconding.

Damrongsak added a witness had told police that he had talked to Asman and two other suspects near the railway station on December 3 and about 30 minutes after the three suspects had ridden away on their motorcycles, the bomb had exploded.