The ever-present threat of home-made bombs in the deep South
“I have said all along that there are no bad soldiers, only bad commanders. For the last five months, there have been three car bomb attacks in Narathiwat and Yala and, thus, the provincial police chief must be held accountable. We used to be able to control the situation from 2005 to 2008. But why can’t we do it now? All the various unit commanders must stay put in their region, must take the offensive, must push hard. From now on I will personally come down to monitor the situation…”
The above remark was made by Police General Adul Saengsingkeo, the deputy national police chief responsible for the unrest problem in the deep South, at a meeting of senior police officers in Narathiwat on March 13.
Given the tone of his remark and the harsh words he used, Pol Gen Adul was clearly frustrated with the performance of the police in Narathiwat in the aftermath of the March 7 car bomb attack of an apartment building of the police in Si Sakhon district of Narathiwat. Although several cars were destroyed and the building was partially burned, no one was killed. But the violent incident represented a big slap on the face of the police.
The other two car bomb explosions took place on February 13 in Yala’s Muang district in which 18 people were injured and ten shophouses were burned and on February 19 in Narathiwat’s Muang district in which 19 people were injured. On February 21, a motorcycle bomb exploded in Yala’s Muang district, killing one person and injuring 14 others.
Pol Gen Adul also said that he believed the number of Islamic insurgents had decreased but their attacks had become more violent. He stressed the need to bring down the number of bombing attacks and instructed police to step up their check and inspection of various garages to find out any of them were involved in the making of car bombs. Police were also told to find out from shops selling construction materials to find out anyone who had bought unusually large amount of PVC pipes which could be used to make anti-personnel improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
On last October 25 which coincided with the sixth anniversary of the Tak Bai massacre, 16 civilians and officials lost their legs in 17 explosions from PVC pipe bombs or IEDs in the three southernmost provinces. Nine other bombs of the same kind were discovered and defused.
A retired police officer who declined to be named recently told the Isra news agency it was easy to make the pipe bombs which cost no more than 30 baht apiece. “You just go into a shop to buy the PVC pipes. Cut each pipe into smaller pieces, seal one of the two ends and stuff explosives inside and connect it with a fuse and detonator. Then bury it in the ground such as in a rubber plantation. When someone steps on it, it will just explode,” he explained.
Noting that several of the unexploded pipe bombs seized by authorities were of the same type and the pipes used were of the same brand, the retired police officer said he suspected the insurgents had bought a large amount of PVC pipes from one of a handful of the dealer’s shops in the region. However, he added that officials concerned had never visited the shops to find out.
The Isra news team recently conducted an opinion survey from police officers and civilians in the three southernmost provinces about the recent surge of bombing incidents. The followings are some of the observations made by the respondents:
The bomb-making operations must be extensive and must involve several people with someone operating a car paint garage. The Mazda pick-up truck which was used to bomb the highways office in Bacho district of Narathiwat on last December 29 was found to be the same vehicle used by insurgents in attacking troops guarding monks on December 18 but the colour of the truck had been repainted.
Some used car dealers might be involved with their facilities being used to “safe-keep” stolen cars or motorcycles which were eventually rigged with explosives to be used against officials and civilians alike.
Since the explosives used in making IEDs were locally available, why no serious attempts have been undertaken by authorities concerned to find out who possess or import the explosives?
Were the insurgents supported by influential figures or underground business operators in the region because the bomb-making industry need financing to become operational?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caption : Carbomb in Bacho district of Narathiwat on last December 29