SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
Some 20 more villagers face arrest
Narathiwat - Some 20 villagers, most of them women, will be arrested for taking part in holding two teachers of the village school hostages, Narathiwat Governor Pracha Terat said Sunday.
Pracha said although the villagers might not be the ones who assaulted the two teachers, they would face legal action for taking part in the hostage taking, which led to the assaults. Juling Pangamoon and Sirinart Thavornsuk, 30 - both teachers at the Kuching Reupoh elementary school - were taken hostage by villagers on Friday. The villagers demanded the release of two of their number arrested earlier in the day for allegedly launching attacks and killing two marines at a railway station. On Saturday, the security forces raided the house of Karimah Mahsa, 25, and arrested her for allegedly inciting villagers to storm the school. Karimah is the wife of Muhamad Sapae-ing Buari, who was one of two villagers arrested for allegedly taking part of the killings of two marines. The Narathiwat governor said Sunday that most of the 20 villagers were women, who were suspected sympathisers of Muslim separatists. Pracha said the 20 villagers had moved from the so-called "red zones" where suspected Muslim separatists were active. Pracha said the Kuching Reupoh village in Rangae district was known to be a yellow zone, meaning there were moderate violent incidents in the area. Pracha said the Fourth Army Region used to deploy soldiers to station at Kuching Reupoh village. "But I don't understand why the new commander of the southern army has ordered the pull-out of the soldiers there," Pracha said. He said the government should provide helicopters for security officials to use to mount rescue operations when officials are taken hostage. Pracha said sensitive villages are often located in remote areas, which are difficult to be reached by roads. Pracha was responding to criticism that authorities were too slow to rescue the two teachers. Pracha said helicopters would allow officials to rescue victims in time. Meanwhile, Pairaj Saengthong, director of the Education Zone 1 of Narathiwat, said teachers of some 100 schools in Narathiwat would stop teaching indefinitely until they were assured of security for them. The Nation
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