Insurgents continue mayhem in deep South

Published on November 05, 2005 - Fresh violence in the South broke out yesterday as insurgents planted bombs, stole state-issued guns and shot volunteers.

In Pattani’s Yarang district a 15-kilogram bomb was primed to blow up the house of an assistant village headman, but heavy rains prevented the device from going off.

Sompot Marthiran, 42, told police a suspicious item had been placed in front of his house.

Earlier on he had been attacked by a number of gunmen during the night and yesterday morning.

Bomb squads rushed to his home and found a round, yellow-metal box, as well as two fake bombs nearby.

They defused the bomb and discovered it contained 15kg of fertiliser mixed with two-centimetre metal pieces, electrical wires, nine-volt batteries and a mobile phone.

Investigating officers believe the bomb was planted at the house on Thursday night in the hope of drawing bomb squads before it blew up.

The bomb had been triggered when it was found but due to heavy rains on Thursday night it failed to detonate.

In the province’s Thung Yang Daeng district, 10 insurgents riding six motorcycles raided five village defence volunteers’ homes and made made off with five shotguns after threatening their wives and children to make them hand over the guns.

The five village defence volunteers were attending prayers at a local mosque when the raiders drove up.

The rebels have seized more than 100 guns in the three southernmost provinces since last month.

In Sungai Padi district of Narathiwat, a volunteer ranger was critically wounded by two gunmen yesterday afternoon .

Investigating officials said Tanapol Phromdam, 20, had been herding cattle on his motorcycle when two gunmen came from behind and fired a pistol at him before speeding away.

Tanapol was struck in the arm and body. He was sent to a nearby hospital. Police blamed the insurgents for the attack.

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Input from Yemen

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh will meet Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon at a Bangkok hotel today to discuss the violence in the deep South during a brief stopover on his official visit to Japan, the United States and France.

Saleh chaired the June 30 meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), with which Thailand recently engaged in a war of words over a statement by its secretary-general, Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, about the ongoing violence in the predominantly Muslim region and the flight of 131 Thai Muslims to Malaysia.

Kantathi said he would discuss the government’s policies on restoring peace in the deep South and provide background information on the Thai Muslims who fled to Malaysia in August.

The Nation