3 suspected insurgents killed in Pattani

Authorities shot and killed 3 suspected insurgents on Thursday in Pattani province in Thailand’s deep South, long the home of a bloody separatist insurgency. Security forces believe the men were planning to mount an attack during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The shootings are the first act of violence since Malaysia’s Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or National Revolutionary Front rebels declared in early April they were was ceasing “all activities” on humanitarian grounds because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the group warned it would resume operations if Thai government forces attacked its fighters.

Piyapong Wongchan, Pattani’s chief of police, says the raid took place before dusk a village in Nong Chik district, as residents of Thailand’s mainly Muslim Deep South were preparing to break their fast at the end of the seventh day of the holy month.

“Prior to the shootout, we received intelligence that a group of insurgents took a break in the area [before] they planned to exploit Ramadan to launch an attack. This morning informants found suspicious strangers hiding in an unregistered house.”

The raid turned violent as joint security forces surrounded a house in Pakaruesong village.

“As officials were circling the house and calling them out, the perpetrators opened fire.”

Piyapong says the 3 men in the house were killed and one police officer was injured in the shootout. He says arrest warrants had already been posted for all 3 men for their alleged involvement in other crimes.

Investigators say one of the men, Yusof Mometoh, participated in an August 2016 bombing in southern Thailand outside of the Deep South, one of several bombings over two days that killed four and injured more than 30 people. Most of the attacks targetted southern tourist hotspots including Phuket and Hua Hin.

Matamesee Sa-e, the second slain suspect, has been charged with looting a gold shop last year, and the third, Abdul Yasi Pakya, has been charged for his role in the bombing of a Big C superstore in Pattani in 2017.  BenarNews could not contact their survivors on Thursday.

An army spokesman say authorities have been put on alert to safeguard the region from possible bombings.

“Though Ramadan is a holy month for doing good deeds, we found perpetrators who were trying to mount attacks.”

More than 7,000 people have died in the Deep South since the insurgency reignited in January 2004. The region encompasses the Malay-speaking provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in neighboring Songkhla.

In a YouTube posting on Thursday,  a BRN spokesman blamed the government for taking advantage of the Covid-19 shutdown across the region to launch the raid.

“The BRN condemns the Thai government for this inhumanity and we hope that all people are looking forward to managing their villages against the outbreaks and the abusive regime.”

SOURCES: Chiang Rai Times | BenarNews