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Published on August 14, 2007

The Army has ordered the Na Thawi district of Songkhla to be placed under close security watch following the increase of violence in the area, a senior officer said yesterday.

Na Thawi is adjacent to Saba Yoi in the same province and has been the scene of frequent insurgency attacks, said Lt-General Chamlong Kungsong, a chief of staff with the Internal Security Operations Command.

"In a recent meeting, we discussed the upsurge of violence in Na Thawi and agreed to put it under close watch. We believe that our successful operation and suppression in Saba Yoi has forced the insurgents to escape to Na Thawi," he said.

He reiterated that the Army will continue offensive operations in Saba Yoi and closely watch Na Thawi in the belief the insurgents will use it as a base to attack both the authorities and local people.

He said part of the successful operations against the insurgents had resulted from the cooperation of villagers.

The violence in Na Thawi was a "show of strength" by the insurgents, Chamlong said.

Na Thawi is the second district in Songkhla that has come under violent attack, mostly at crowded markets. The violence that has claimed thousands of lives, both Buddhists and Muslims, has so far been mostly limited to three provinces - Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani.

In a related development, Colonel Sompong Khonkaen, a deputy police chief of Songkhla, said that police yesterday searched a residence of Pol Sergeant Awang Hame, 48, in Songkhla's Thepa district, after becoming suspicious he was involved in the violence in the southern provinces.

Awang is based in Pattani province, Sompong said, adding the search was legal as the court approved a search warrant.

Meanwhile, Army spokesman Colonel Akra Thiprote said that after the recent fatal attacks on public health officials in Pattani, many medical personnel had refused to return to work.

"Therefore, the Army will send its doctors to many areas in the deep South to take care of the local people," he said.