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Published on December 7, 2007

Masusoh Pohtae, 43, was drinking in a tea shop in Tanyongmat subdistrict with about 10 other people when he was attacked, police said.

Masusoh is the father of Yaya Pohtae, a recently arrested suspect in the beating to death of two marines who were being held hostage in 2005.

An eyewitness said two gunmen riding in the back of a pickup fired AK-47 and shotgun rounds into the teashop. Masusoh was killed and another man, Ma-aeh Susoh, was injured.

It was not clear whether the attack was linked to the murder of the two marines, which raised tensions in the deep South, where about 2,700 people have been killed since 2004.

Elsewhere in Narathiwat, officials yesterday defused a bomb planted by the side of the Tak Bai-Sungai Kolok road in Tak Bai district.

The 5-kilogram explosive device was placed in a metal box and had a detonator that could be set off by mobile phone, said a bomb expert who defused the bomb.

The Nation