deep south31 held in fresh sweepsArmy, police hold suspects after raids

Published on August 8, 2007

More than 80 soldiers and police raided Ban Limud in Muang district of Yala at dawn and arrested 16 people.

All are Muslims aged between 17 and 56. They were temporarily detained at a mil¬itary camp before being trans¬ferred to the Fourth Army Region's forward command in neighbouring Pattani.

In Raman district of Yala, more than 100 officers raided two villages and took 11 sus¬pects into custody. They were taken to a Pattani military camp for questioning.

Meanwhile, in Rusoh dis¬trict of Narathiwat, more than 100 military and police searched more than 50 houses and arrested four suspects. Personal effects believed to have been used in attacks were seized, as was ammunition for automatic weapons and antigovernment documents.

The raid was part of an ongoing operation that has seen several hundred arrests in the past months.

More than 160 suspects remain in detention at mili¬tary camps in Yala and Pattani, according to army spokesman Acra Tiproch.

Another 252 were sent for job training in the upper South after no evidence was found that they were involved in the insurgency.

Authorities believe the arrests are containing violence in the predominantly Muslim region.

However, a roadside bomb yesterday killed two soldiers and injured four others on patrol in MaYor district of Pattani. The six soldiers were travelling in a pickup on a road in Ban Klongchang. Command SgtMajor Apinant Pethkamnerd and Corporal Waemausoh Doloh died instantly.

Separately, Raman district of Yala resident Haseng Sengsa, 45, was shot dead at about 1pm while riding his motorcycle by two attackers.

Police suspect militants were behind the attacks.

The Nation