Wanted man shot dead

Pattani's Sai Buri district police and the Army cooperated in an operation yesterday that led to the arrest of a suspect wanted in many cases of attacks, including the recent killing of Muslim schoolteacher Chonlathee Charoenchol on January 23.

Following a tip-off that a wanted man was lying low at a relative's house, officials at 11am yesterday surrounded the house in tambon Taluban but the suspect fled to a nearby forest and fired at the officials, leading to a brief gunfight. Soon after, officials found the body of Narathiwat native Suhaidi Taheh, 31, with several gunshots in the neck and torso with a pistol in his hand.

Suhaidi was reportedly a leading insurgent in Narathiwat's Bacho district and was wanted in nine cases of violence. He was also identified as one of the culprits by a witness in the Chonlathee murder case.

Meanwhile, a defence volunteer Sulkhiblee Ta-yeh, 28, was killed on the spot and his colleague Ibrohim Salae, 30, seriously injured in an ambush by two men on a motorcyle in Pattani's Yarang district yesterday morning, Pol Lieutenant Jirawat Thongtha from Yarang Police Station said.

The attack occurred in Ban Ton Phai, Tambon Moh Mawee, while the duo was heading home to Yala in a pickup truck.