Killings continue as Sonthi lands in South
Army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin arrived in the Deep South yesterday to check on troops but was greeted with more violence, arson attacks and protests from villagers who accuse security forces of carrying out targeted killings.
Two people were killed in Yala yesterday. In Tambon Sathengnok in Yala's Muang district, gunmen charged into the residence of Jirasak Kumachan, 19, and riddled his body with bullets. He died at the scene.In Tambon Yupoe in the same district, gunmen attacked a couple on their way back from a local market, killing Malee Songkoew, 41. The woman's husband, Pleung Taptip-thong, 50, survived the attack and is now in hospital. On Wednesday evening in Tam-bon Tanaoputeh in Yala's Banang Sata district, Hasan Museng, 28, suffered gunshot wounds while riding home. The same evening also saw an arson attack on a local school in Tambon Parehnua in Narathi-wat's Bacho district. Arsonists set fire to the school's second floor and damaged some of the buildings. Villagers quickly got to the scene and put out the fire before it spread to other facilities, police said. Meanwhile, 300 women and children gathered at midday in Ya-la's Tambon Tanaoputeh to block the Klong Pinang-Bannang Sata road in protest against the shooting on Wednesday of Asan Museh, 29. They accused the local ranger unit of killing Asan but offered no evidence to support their claim. The protesters refused to budge at first but as night decided to tear down their tent as night falls. A similar incident took place in Bacho district when around 100 demonstrators, mostly women and children, gathered in front of the local police station, demanding the release of Burawan Kaji, 21, who has been detained at the Fourth Army Forward Command in Pattani. Authorities promised to release him after questioning. The Nation Yala
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