Another week of senseless violence
It was yet another week of senseless violence in the troubled far South with six Muslims and non-Muslims killed and nine others injured in bombings and shootings.
On Tuesday March 1 at about 9 p.m., assailants fired M16 rounds into Mr Sulkiglee hagoh, 34, as he was standing at the backyard of his house in Ban Bang Lang, Tambon Bachoh, Banang Sata district of Yala. Police were still unable to determine the motives of the killing.
On Wednesday March 2, as Mrs Anchalee Noopol, 41, was riding a motorcycle back home from her office in Yala’s Muang district, one assailant, riding on the pillion of a motorbike fatally shot her at point-blank range on the neck. The shooter and his accomplice who were believed to be militants also left at the scene of the attack six leaflets. The incident occurred on highway No 410 in Ban Nipeekuleh, Tambon Khao Toom of Yarang district, Pattani.
On Thursday March 3 in Tambon Sabarang, Pattani’s Muang district, two men, riding on a motorcycle shot and killed Mr Manasae, Mudor, a 40-year old scrap merchant, as he was riding a motorbike equipped with a side car on his way home. The victim had just sent off his son to a school in Pattani.
At about 11.45 p.m. on the same night, assailants opened fire with AK47 assault rifles from a running pick-up truck at Mr Mareepeng Masa, 40, as he was riding his motorcycle back home in Ban Luboda, Yee Ngor district of Narathiwat. Fortunately, he escaped unscathed.
On the same day, army troops manning a check point in front of Yala provincial prison intercepted a pick-up truck and seized 270 bottles of cough syrup which were believed to be destined for drug addicts. Three men in the truck were taken into custody.
On Saturday March 5, three soldiers were injured in a roadside bomb blast in Kapor district of Pattani. The truck in which they were traveling was also damaged.
At about 10 p.m., suspected militants fired rounds of 40-mm grenades and assault rifles into a checkpoint on highway No 418 in Nong Chik district of Pattani. No one was injured however.
Shortly afterward in Kok Po district of Pattani, suspected militants opened fire at an army patrol unit riding on a pick-up truck on highway No 409. One soldier was seriously wounded.
Also on the same day, suspected drug traffickers tried unsuccessfully to ram their pick-up truck through a police road block in Yala’s Raman district, forcing the policemen to open fire at the vehicle which eventually smashed into a roadside tree. The suspects managed to flee arrest but police managed to seize more than 4,500 methamphitamine tablets and some crystal methamphetamine plus 632,350 baht in cash.
Police later identified Mana Malasor as the leader of a drug gang in Yala and accused him of funding militant gangs in the province with his drug money.
On Sunday March 6 at about 6.30 a.m., suspected militants opened fire with AK47 assault rifles into a crowd of people exercising in Ban Bin Yarang housing estate in Yarang district, Pattani province. Five people were injured and one of them, a retired police officer, was pronounced dead after he was rushed to the district hospital.
The assailants also scattered spikes on the road as they escaped to prevent security forces from pursuing them.
On the same day in Panareh district of Pattani, the pillion rider of a motorcycle shot dead 23-year old Mr Natthakorn Chanthip as he was riding a motorcycle with his mother sitting on the pillion. The victim’s mother, Mrs Krua, was also injured by gunshots.
Also on the same day, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb as an armoured pick-up truck carrying some troops to buy food in a market in Yala’s Muang district Luckily, no one was injured as the bomb explosion missed the vehicle
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Caption : The injures from the latest violence in Yarang district, Pattani province on March 6
Photo by Abdullah Wang-ni