Mahama-alavi Dohwae, 23, turned himself in on Thursday. He is accused of shooting Kobkul Runsaewa, the director of Ban Tua Ko School in Narathiwat’s Chanae district, on June 24.

Kobkul was shot dead during a lunch break when she was on her way home to take care of her paralysed mother.

Kwanchart said at a press conference in Yala that Mahama-alavi, a Narathiwat resident, was also accused of involvement in three other murders, in November last year, February and June. He didn’t reveal where the suspect was being held.

He also announced the arrest of two men in connection with the brutal murder of two members of one southern family, whom he named as the Pliklek family.

The two suspects are Adae Wateh, who was arrested on August 1, and a man known only as Awae, who was nabbed on September 11.

The two are believed to be from a band of militants led by Nasory Sae-seng, or Awae Kaelah, a key leader of the separatist group Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani, who is still on the run.

Security officials believe the mujahideen group played a crucial role in stoking the ongoing violence in the predominantly Muslim region, where more than 1,000 people have been killed since the beginning of last year.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, a former local politician was injured in an ambush while riding home from a teashop in Pattani’s Kapho district.

Rusdi Awae, 48, was shot by a group of gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles waiting on the roadside. He was admitted to hospital with wounds to his chest and right shoulder.

Police found about six spent bullet jackets at the scene and believe the attack was the work of militants wanting the troubled region’s violence to continue. They dismissed any connection with Rusdi’s earlier political activities as a candidate for the Provincial Administration Organisation, saying he withdrew from politics long ago.

The Nation
Yala