Ice-cream seller killed, son injured
An ice-cream seller was shot dead while two local community leaders survived attacks on their lives yesterday in the latest development of the ongoing violence in the restive south.
Sala Auaychinda, 45, and his 8-year-old son Songklod were driving their ice-cream vending motorcycle in Bannang Sata district of Yala when two gunmen rode up from behind on a motorcycle and opened fire on them with a shotgun.Sala was struck four times and later pronounced dead at hospital. His son broke his left leg and was hospitalised at Yala Centre Hospital. Police suspected Muslim insurgents were behind the attack. In Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat, Isma-ae Yingsuksakul, 43, was shot by two gunmen while he was riding his motorbike to work. Like other typical assassination incidents in the deep south, the gunmen rode a motorbike approaching Isma-ae and the man sitting in the pillion seat opened fire once at him before speeding away. Isma-ae, who is a brother of a Tambon Administration Organisation's member, was only slightly injured, while police suspected the attack stemmed from personal conflict but did not rule out insurgency. Separately, in Pattani's Saiburi district, Troborn Tambon Chief Wuthichai Sani, 50, survived a drive-by shooting by two gunmen while he was having lunch with a police friend at a roadside restaurant. The two culprits also threw in a M-26 hand grenade but it did not explode. Investigating officials attributed the attack to Muslim insurgents. Since January 2004, the three southernmost provinces have been wracked by near-daily violence that has claimed more than 1,100 lives. The NationYala
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