Separatists 'are masquerading as security forces'
The multi-agency Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command (SBPPBC) launched a public-relations campaign yesterday, warning southern communities to keep watch for insurgents pretending to be security officials.
The campaign followed a Thursday gunfight between insurgents and authorities in which five people were killed. Ten military vehicles equipped with loudspeakers were dispatched throughout the restive region after an attack on the SBPPBC's strategic headquarters in Pattani's Sai Buri district on Thursday. Insurgents were able to carry out the assault because they were dressed like officials. Three security officials were killed in the gunfight that followed the attack. Two of the insurgents, Hassan Wa-mae, 24, and Yudeen Baka, 30, were shot dead by an Army ranger unit. SBPPBC commanders told a press conference yesterday that authorities had managed to retrieve at least 10 weapons captured by the militants during the attack. These include one .38 handgun, four M16 and four SK machine-guns, and 180 rounds of bullets. Authorities arrested three suspects in connection with the attack. They are Sakariya Kasu, 18, Abdulrahman Salaemae, 35, and Marophe Sama-ae, 31. In a separate incident, a group of arsonists sneaked into a school compound in Narathiwat's Si Sakhon district and set the building on fire. Two fire trucks were dispatched to the Ban Lupoh Pathu Elementary School and were able to contain the damage, police said.
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