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SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: Near miss for Pattani hotel
Published on June 11, 2005
Police defuse 15kg bomb hidden in fire extinguisher; arson attacks grip region as insurgents intensify terror campaign
Police bomb experts defused a 15-kilogram explosive de-vice yesterday at the rear of a hotel popular with government officials and foreign visitors, and over a hundred separate locations were targeted for arson attacks by suspected insurgents, the authorities said.
The bomb would have severely damaged the CS Pattani Hotel if it went off, but it probably would not have harmed guests because it was planted quite a distance from the main lobby and restaurant, said Police Colonel Somjit Nam-somyon, Pattani’s police superintendent.
The device was packed in an empty fire extinguisher filled with fertiliser and shrapnel, he said, and it could have taken down the voltage transformer if it went off.
He said it took the bomb squad four hours to defuse the explosive because of heavy rain. A mobile phone SIM card connected to a 9-volt battery was discovered in the canister, he said.
The authorities believe the failed bomb plot at the hotel was part of a spate of arson and other violent attacks that jolted the restive region yesterday.
Over 600 people have been killed during ongoing violence in the deep South since January last year.
The arson attacks targeted schools, local government buildings, cars, phone booths and bus stops. Insurgents laid out spikes along roads near the targeted sites to prevent the police or other security forces from giving chase.
The authorities said the coordinated attacks, which lasted until Friday morning, were the most intense in recent months because of the number of locations targeted.
In Pattani’s Yarang district, the home of Police Private Niarong Nisama-ae was fire bombed but the flames were extinguished, and two public elementary schools also came under arson attack.
Ming Sithichai, 17, was killed by a shot to the head while travelling with his brother in Narathiwat’s Si Sakorn district on Thursday, police said.
His friend, Sithichai Thamma-soon, escaped unharmed.
In Narathiwat’s Chanae district, teacher bodyguards Pol Sergeant Kolayuth Chaiyokul and Pol Ser-geant Samrat Wongpakham were wounded in a bomb blast.
Cherdphan Na-Songkhla, the governor of Pattani, said he suspected the attacks were part of a coordinated campaign because they happened at around the same time.
Interior chief Chidchai Vanasatidya, who visited Pattani yesterday for the first in his current position, said the immediate task was to curb the ongoing violence, which now seems to be occurring on a daily basis.
Extra emphasis will be placed on strengthening intelligence gathering, he said.
Meanwhile, about 300 public school teachers gathered in Pattani yesterday to voice their frustration at government security measures, which they said failed to make them feel safe.
They suggested that the government provide school buses for students and teachers in remote areas, and that police or military personnel fill some of the teaching positions.
The government should be more flexible in granting them transfers to other regions, they said, and three months should be sufficient notice.
The teachers also reiterated their request for the authorities to issue more gun permits for personal safety.
The Nation
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