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SOUTHERN VIOLENCE: School director gunned down
Published on June 25, 2005
Couple in Yala murdered on remote road; police foil Narathiwat bomb plot
A female school director in this southern border province was shot dead yesterday during a lunch break while on her way home to take care of her paralysed mother, police said.
Meanwhile in Yala, a couple and their dog had their throats slit early in the morning while on their way to their rubber plantation.
Kobkul Runsaewa, 47, the director of Ban Tua Ko School in Narathiwat’s Rangae district, was gunned down at 11.50am on a road while she was riding to her home, which is about one kilometre away, said Pol Colonel Ubol Meebun, commander of the Rangae police station.
He said Kobkul was shot four times - twice in the chest and twice in the arm - and died at the scene.
Witnesses told police that a motorcycle with two men had followed and opened fired on her shortly after she left the school.
Adul Promsaeng, deputy director of the school, said the killing of Kobkul had severely affected the morale of teachers and students at the school.
He said teachers would hold a meeting with parents on Monday to decide how many days the school would remain closed for the students and school personnel to get over the shock.
Adul said soldiers would usually patrol the roads around the school during the lunch break to protect the teachers, but the military patrol unit did not show up yesterday.
“The school director visited home to take care of her paralysed mother every lunch break and the assailants might have been watching her for a while,” Adul said.
He said another director of a school in the same area, Surasak Phansriwiroj, was shot dead three months ago, and now Kobkul’s death had made the teachers even more fearful.
Pakorn Thepsorn, director of Narathiwat’s Education Zone 2, said the latest attacks by militants had caused southern provinces to lose more good education personnel.
Kobkul’s body will be cremated at the Bang Nara Temple on Tuesday.
In Yala, Pol Lieutenant Somporn Ritrat of Muang district police station said a couple and their pet dog were found dead on a remote road in Tambon Yupo at 3.35am.
The victims were Jud Suwanchatree, 52, and his wife Serm Suwanchatree, 50.
They were riding a motorcycle with a side cart. The husband was shot several times in the body and his throat was slit until he was nearly decapitated. The wife’s throat was also slit until her head was almost severed.
Inside the side cart, their pet dog was found dead with knife wounds to the body and neck.
Police noticed rubber-tree branches blocking the road in front of the motorcycle and found three sets of footsteps near the vehicle. Somporn said the couple had obviously been attacked when they stopped their motorcycle to remove the branches.
Siwa Saengmanee, director-general of the Provincial Administration Department, said the killing of the couple and their pet dog should be condemned.
“They have done an inhumane act to innocent people so it’s time for the people to rise up against these troublemakers. The people should not let this group act freely in their terror campaign,” Siwa said.
Police meanwhile managed to defuse two bombs planted on two roads in Narathiwat’s Muang district.
Pol Captain Adisorn Yungyuen of the Muang district police station said police were alerted to suspicious objects on two roads. Police used special equipment to interfere in mobile phone signals and then checked and found that two of the three objects were home-made bombs, which could be detonated by a mobile phone. The other was a decoy.
The Nation
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