Surayud fears anniversary attack in South
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont expressed fear yesterday of a possible militant attack during the New Year to mark the third anniversary of the Narathiwat army-camp attack.
"All parties are concerned as we don't want any violence against people in the deep South," Surayud said. He was responding to a news report that militants might launch a major attack to commemorate the operation of January 4, 2004, when militants killed four soldiers and stole 400 M16 rifles from Narathiwat Army barracks. The Prime Minister has urged local residents to cooperate with the authorities in providing information about the movements of militants in their region. "Without cooperation from local people, we can't fix any of the problems," he told reporters after a meeting with Army commander-in-chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who has just returned from the deep South. Violence in the troubled region since 2004 has claimed some 1,900 lives, almost on a daily basis. There was another murder yesterday in Pattani when a rubber-tapper was shot dead at about 8.30am as he was riding his motorcycle to work. Mak Kaew-in, 46, was shot in the head with a .38 revolver and died instantly in Pattani's Khok Pho district. Police said he was probably the victim of a drive-by shooting, which is a frequent pattern of attack.
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