A gunman shot and killed a Border Patrol Police (BPP) unit commander in broad daylight during Friday prayers inside a mosque filled with scores of worshippers, police said yesterday.

Sergeant Thorleh Daloh, 40, commander of BPP 444 in Pattani's Yaring district, was shot in the back of the head at close range by a gunman using a .38 calibre handgun while praying yesterday afternoon at a community mosque in Mayo district's Ban Dan village.

He had been wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Sergeant Thorleh lay in a pool of blood on the floor of the mosque as investigators began to inspect the scene of the shooting,

Two other men, Mah Chenae, 82, and Wathae Hae, 72, were wounded by the bullet that killed Thorleh while a third person, Yasoh Ali, was also injured. All three men were being treated at a local hospital.

Initial investigations said the gunman fled in the initial confusion after the shooting.

Ninth Police Region commander Lt-General Adul Saengsingkoew, who rushed to the crime scene as authorities sealed off the village, blamed insurgents for the shooting.

The attack suggested the militants were beginning to show signs of fatigue, and had therefore selected an easy target, he said, adding, it was probably intended to scare people.

Adul said that instead of winning over people, the actions of the insurgents would force people to turn against them, because they have not respected the sanctity of the mosque.

More than 1,200 deaths have been blamed on insurgent violence since January 2004 in the three southernmost provinces. Most victims are Muslims.

Authorities blame Malay separatists seeking to carve out a independent homeland for the bulk of the killings.

The majority of the local population is Muslim and no one has claimed responsibility for the ongoing violence.

The Nation

Pattani