Martial law in Songkhla districts

Published on November 04, 2005 - Troops move on to streets of Chana, Thepha following attacks in Narathiwat on Wednesday, security officials suspect militants of using area to hide weapons

Martial law was imposed on Songkhla’s Chana and Thepha districts yesterday as violence continues unabated in the South.

Fourth Army Region authorities said the law took effect from 10am.

“To help security officials maintain peace and order, the Fourth Army Region has decided to put the two districts under martial law,” Army spokesman Colonel Akara Pittayarote said.

He said it was necessary as the militants had used some areas in the two Songkhla districts to hide weapons.

While Chana and Thepha are now under martial law, the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, as well as Songkhla’s Saba Yoi district, have been under emergency decree by the government since July.

The order came only hours after an explosion blacked out the entire city of Narathiwat on Wednesday night.

The impact of a powerful explosion brought down a high-voltage electricity pole in Muang district, leaving the city in the dark for nearly three hours.

Two others bomb attacks were reported, one at a cooking-gas depot and the other outside the provincial prison, leaving a pedestrian and his nine-year-old son injured.

Altogether a dozen bombs were found in at least nine places in Narathiwat’s Muang district last night, seven of which were defused by security troops.

Police yesterday morning also found the torso of a suspected militant at a high-voltage electricity pole in a densely wooded area in Muang district. Only the lower part of his body was found and his internal organs were spread over a 20-square-metre area.

“We suspect the man accidentally blew himself up while setting the 45-kg bombs next to the two high-voltage electricity poles,” Pol Colonel Nukul Kraithong, a provincial police chief, said.

He ruled out it being a suicide attack, insisting that the bomb had exploded prematurely.

Police also found more bloodstains in the area and suspect there were at least three other people nearby when the bomb exploded.

Dej Thongrat, manager of Narathiwat’s Provincial Electricity Agency, said 11 power poles were brought down by the attacks on Wednesday. The repairs will cost at least Bt3 million.

More than 150 electricity workers were sent to do the repairs, which should have been finished last night.

The Nation
Narathiwat