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Published on February 3, 2008

"The incident in Bannang Sata district [in Yala] last week is the last straw in the violence by the rangers on innocent people. So we demand that the rangers be withdrawn from the areas," they said in a statement.

A man in ranger uniform - who turned out to be a ranger attached to an Army unit in the province - shot and wounded the villager before he was killed in return fire.

The student organisations were joined by the Students Federation of Thailand and the students' network in the South. They said the ranger units in the deep South had a long history of using violence against innocent people.

The statement also branded as irresponsible the denial of the ranger chief who said the shooting was caused by a personal conflict between the ranger and the villager.

"The Army should investigate the incident and report the results to the public as soon as possible," the statement said.

The daily violence continued yesterday as a Thai Muslim rubber-tapper was shot dead in Yala's Raman district.

Abdul Rasoh Nadarohning, 42, was riding on his motorcycle to his plantation at about 6am when two men on a motorbike shot him several times. He died on the spot.

The Nation