Bombs injure officers as two villagers shot dead

Security officials inspect a large crater created by a roadside bomb in Narathiwat’s Rangae district yesterday. Two soldiers sustained minor injuries in the blast.

One roadside bomb appeared to be a trap for a police unit in Yala's Krong Pinang district. One officer was seriously wounded in the explosion as he was removing a banner that blamed rangers for violence in the region, including the killing of villagers, because they were unable to capture insurgents.

In Narathiwat's Rangae district, a group of soldiers also came under attack from a roadside bomb. Two sustained minor injuries.

In Yala's Raman district, rubber tapper Kadir Yusoh, 47, was shot dead while riding his motorbike near his village, while a 28-year-old villager, also a Muslim, whose name was not released, was killed by gunfire in Narathiwat.

The shootings came a day after a group of men opened fire on a 58-year-old Islamic teacher and five students in Pattani province. The teacher died, while two boys, aged nine and 11, were injured.

In the same district on Sunday, a woman was killed and a soldier and a local mayor were injured when gunmen opened fire on a teashop.

In Narathiwat's Tambon Kaluwor, police found a blood trail and traces of explosives in a pineapple field. It was believed that the bomb had gone off prematurely as culprits were about to bury it.

Hours later, a force of about 500 policemen and soldiers raided a nearby traditional Islamic boarding school, Islamburapha, in the same tambon and detained 11 suspects and seized items believed to be for making explosives.

The raid came amid an ongoing door-to-door operation by security forces in Yala's Bannang Sata and Narathiwat's Sungai Padi districts. At least 200 villagers have been detained without charge for questioning under the Emergency Law.

"At least 40 of these individuals are believed to be in leadership positions," said Army spokesman Colonel Acra Thiproch.

Colonel Peeraphon Wiriyakul, commander of Task Force 3 in Narathiwat, said the crackdown had forced many insurgents to leave the area.

An Interior Ministry official said yesterday that the controversial emergency state would be extended by another three months from July 19.

"We need to further extend the expiring emergency rule in the deep South," Pongpayom Vasaphuti told reporters.

Pongpayom said that the decision to extend the law, which covers Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, as well as some districts of nearby Songkhla province, was made at a meeting of senior security officials chaired by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.

Associate Professor Srisompob Jitpirom, of Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani, said the military's current aggressive campaign was part of it effort to restore its image, but warned that negative consequences could follow as Muslim villagers still distrust the authorities.