The six rangers were setting up a checkpoint in pouring rain on a road linking Pattani’s Yaring district and Narathiwat’s Joh I Rong district when a number of gunmen riding in a pick-up truck pulled alongside and opened fire at them with automatic rifles, said Pol Major Geneal Thani Thawidsri, deputy commissioner for the Ninth Police Region.

The assailants then fled the scene, but not before sowing the road with spikes to delay pursuing officers, Thani added.

Thani said the rangers had broken security protocols in constructing their checkpoint because they had done so without proper cover in case of an attack. They were subsequently caught off guard.

A step-up in attacks against security official came on the eve of Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra’s planned visit to the restive region. Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said the schedule for Thaksin’s visit had yet to be finalised. He dismissed allegations that the repeated delays in Thaksin’s visit to the deep South were due to the intensifying violence.

Meanwhile, in Yala’s Krong Pinang district suspected insurgents stuffed the body and head of a decapitated man in two plastic bags and left them on a roadside. The incident, which came on the eve of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, marked the tenth victim to have been decapitated in 21 months of violence in the three southernmost provinces.

The victim’s body was found with his arms and legs tied behind his back. Next to his head was a hand-written note in Thai, which said: “You arrested innocent people from U-Beng village, I will kill innocent people in return,” according to a policeman.

Police said the message likely referred to the recent arrest of villagers in U-Beng on Monday in connection with an ambush against a detail of police officers escorting local school teachers. One officer was killed in the shoot-out.

A police source said the authorities had been informed about the beheaded man on Tuesday, but that they had been wary about visiting the reported crime scene for fear of being ambushed and falling victim to booby traps left by guerrillas. Instead, they decided to wait until Wednesday for a bomb squad to arrive and clear the area before they moved in to investigate.

Army and police convoys have become daily targets of roadside bombings and ambushes staged by insurgents. Last Sunday two police officers were killed by a bomb as they arrived to investigate a tip-off about a railway blockade, which turned out to be a hoax.

About 1,000 people have died since full-blown violence erupted in January 2004 in the three Muslim-majority southernmost provinces. Authorities and analysts have blamed the unceasing attacks on a tangled web of Islamic separatists, local warlords, and armed criminals.

The Nation
Narathiwat

Somporn Chaibangyang said Her Majesty would sponsor the three children of Azeed Nimusa and two children of Anuwat Thammaratpong, both of whom were killed in the bombing.

The children will be sponsored until they attain their degrees and will be given money to use during their current academic year.

Somporn said a representative of the Queen visited the children yesterday and also paid a visit to the family of Jirawat Petmart, a police volunteer who was injured on Saturday during a bomb attack in Songkhla’s Chana district.

The representative provided financial assistance to Jirawat’s family.