Govt is ‘not behind’ the teashop slayings
Published on October 02, 2005 - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday dismissed accusations that a government death squad was behind the September 20 gangland-style shoot-up of a Narathiwat teashop, saying a “white paper” would soon reveal all. The government is finalising a report in three languages – Thai, Malay and English – that will explain thoroughly the events that transpired in Ban Tanyonglimo that day, Thaksin said. An investigation showed that the bullets that killed two locals and wounded four others at the village teashop came from the same weapon that killed police in a recent attack, he said.
Lt-General Wirayuth Sithimalik, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9, made a similar claim last Tuesday, one week after the tragic incident.
But a security expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said authorities in this country did not have access to technology with that level of precision to make that kind of finding.
The teashop attack incited villagers to take two marines hostage, which set the stage for a siege that ended the next day in the brutal beating deaths of the two officers.
Villagers told The Nation that they were certain that the men who drove up in a white pickup truck and wore hoods and black clothing were members of a quasi-official hit team. They sprayed the teashop with fire from AK47s and shotguns.
The villagers held the two marines – who were passing by and had stopped to check what was going on – captive, until authorities met their demands, including allowing foreign journalists, preferably from Malaysia, to enter the area and chronicle the stand-off. They also demanded the authorities arrest the gunmen.
The instructions were given to the chief and a top official of Rangae district, the first two government representatives to arrive at the scene. Hundreds of women and children blocked the entrance to the village.
But before a deal could be worked out, suspected insurgents reportedly entered the village and brutally murdered the two Navy men, who were bound and gagged.
Observers said the teashop shooting did not fit the routine tactics of insurgents, who tended to go for drive-by, point-blank assassinations. Roadside explosions followed by brief gunfights before retreating into the woods is another characteristic of rebel strikes.
Thaksin tried hard after meeting with his top security planners to put a positive spin on the situation in the deep South, saying things will get better, amid growing public concern that the violence is escalating.
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