Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin tells reporters at the Senanarong Camp in Songkhla yesterday that Islamic insurgents have infiltrated villages across the deep South, making it difficult to identify them.

Suspected insurgents shot dead two people in two separate drive-by shootings in the South yesterday, as the junta leader claimed separatists had infiltrated villages across the Muslim-majority region and that some members of the Wahdah faction were behind the instability.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to a Songkhla private Islamic school, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said insurgents have stepped up violent attacks since the September 19 coup and are trying to scare residents from co-operating with authorities through violent means.

"Insurgents are targeting innocent people and trying to create fear among local people - their tactics have changed considerably. They have now infiltrated into local communities making it difficult for the government to identify who is behind the violence," he said.

"Even after being arrested, insurgents are sworn to secrecy, so we don't know the masterminds of the violence. They don't expose who they are," he added.

Sonti suggested that members of the Thai Rak Thai Party's Wahdah faction were involved in the ongoing violence for political gain.

His statement drew strong criticism from members of the faction, including former MP Najmudine Umar, who questioned the source of the information.

Meanwhile, in Pattani's Yarang district, gunmen riding pillion on a motorbike shot and killed Saengthip Chandira, 35, and severely injured his wife, Boonpha Khampaya, 31, who was sitting on the passenger side of a pickup truck.

Militants left a note saying: "You kill innocents, we will kill you people from Mohmawee", a reference to a tambon in Pattani's Yarang district. The two victims are believed to have relocated some years ago from Khon Kaen in the north-east.

In a separate incident in Tambon Sathengnok of Yala's Muang district, Padej Kraireurt, 67, was shot twice and died on the way to the hospital.

Padej was riding his motorbike when two gunmen drove up and opened fire His wife, who was sitting pillion, survived the attack without injury.

In Songkhla's Saba Yoi district, more than 100 villagers staged a demonstration calling on authorities to release three suspected insurgents arrested earlier.

Deputy commander of the Border Patrol Police 4th Region, Pol Colonel Somphong Kkonkaen, claimed that one of the three had admitted to killing an unspecified number of residents and village chiefs in the Sabai Yoi area.

In Pattani's provincial seat, Deputy Governor Winai Suwanapat, handed out more than Bt20 million to victims and their family members who had either lost their lives or suffered injuries from the ongoing violence in the restive region.

Meanwhile, authorities in Narathiwat said they had captured 14 suspected militants, nine of them male, in a pre-dawn raid in Tambon Tanyonglimo in Rangae district. Four of the men had warrants out for their arrest.

Authorities also seized two M-16s, three guns, radio communications equipment, medical supplies and about Bt80,000 worth of Thai and Malaysian currencies, officials said.

The Nation

Songkhla