The army is considering stationing a battalion in each of the 33 districts in the troubled provinces of the deep South, Council for National Security chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said yesterday. Also army chief, Gen Sonthi said the battalions would be mixed, bringing together soldiers, rangers and local officials. The army would determine the proportions of forces in each battalion, he added. He also said more paramilitary rangers would be sent to the region. Authorities would recruit locals to become rangers as this would cost the state less.
An employee of a security agency's job creation scheme was shot dead and his wife wounded in an attack in Pattani province yesterday. The couple was attacked in Nong Chik district by two men on a motorcycle while they were taking their daughter to school on a motorcycle. Niphon Prapai, 34, was shot in the head while his wife Srikanda, 32, sustained serious injuries. Their daughter escaped unhurt.
In neighbouring Yala's Bannang Sata district, four village defence volunteers were injured when their base was attacked by a group of armed men yesterday. On Tuesday, three villagers were shot and injured in a drive-by shooting in the same district.
A group of over 100 Muslim women yesterday set up a roadblock on Bannang Sata-Than Tho road to demand the lifting of martial law in the district. The protesters dispersed shortly afterwards.
In Narathiwat, a home-made bomb went off at a food shop in Rueso district yesterday, wounding four customers. The bomb, weighing about 2 kg, was planted under a food showcase and exploded around 8.20 am.
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Four soldiers were wounded, three critically, when insurgents bombed their vehicle late Wednesday. About 10 soldiers were ambushed when they were on patrol in a military carrier and on two motorcycles in Pattani's Yaring district at around 9.30 p.m., police said. After the blast, insurgents and soldiers exchanged gunfire for about five minutes. |