Authorities have shot and killed two men suspected in deadly attacks in southern Thailand earlier this month. Fifteen people, mostly volunteers, staffing a security checkpoint in Yala province were shot and killed when it was ambushed by gunmen.

A day after the attacks, PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha authorised curfews in nine districts of Southern Thailand. The two suspected leaders of local insurgent cells were gunned down on Thursday evening. They exchanged gunfire with authorities during a raid in nearby Pattani province.

Security officials maintain they planned the November 5 attacks on two security checkpoints in Yala province that killed a mix of police, village defence volunteers and civilians, according to an army spokesman. The attacks marked the deadliest day of violence in the restive south since the separatist insurgency reignited in 2004.

A spokesman for the Army said that they are sorry for the victims’ relatives and families.

“We used lenient measures and tried to negotiate with them to come out and fight in court. They didn’t surrender, leading to the losses.”

Authorities learned that the suspects were hiding at a house in Pattani. Local clerics and village leaders tried to persuade them to surrender for about three hours before the firefight with law enforcement ensued, he said.

At a news conference, police said ballistics tests confirmed that a pair of handguns recovered from the suspects were also used in several other insurgent attacks. One of the guns was among the weapons used in the Yala attack. Another weapon, a .45 caliber pistol, was used in the recent killing of a policeman.

“Those two guns were used in 14 separate attacks.”

The three southern border provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala have been in the grips a separatist insurgency for nearly two decades. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 – largely unreported world media although the losses and scale of the conflict are even greater than in the battles on the Gaza Strip..

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times

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PHOTO: A similar roadside bomb attack in Narathiwat on July 16 this year. – Bangkok Post

Three policemen have been injured, one of them seriously, by a bomb believed to have been planted by insurgents in the southern border province of Narathiwat. The three officers were part of a team of six traffic police deployed at a checkpoint. The bomb was placed near a roadside tree.

Soldiers and police immediately rushed to help the wounded officers, who were found bleeding and laying on the road. They were rushed to hospital, and the police sergeant who sustained the most serious injuries was later transferred by helicopter to Songkhla Nakharin Hospital in Hat Yai.

A message, purportedly from the Barisan Revolusi Nasionale insurgent group, was later posted on social media, threatening to target all defence volunteers, claiming they “are part of Siam’s armed forces”.

The warning urged all volunteers to quit or “face the consequences”. But the message was not verified verified as authentic by security officials.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

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SCREENCAPTURE: Channel 8

A couple have been shot and killed, and their granddaughter wounded, during a drive-by shooting in the southern province of Yala. Thai media report that the couple were the parents of a local police sergeant, Surakarn Khunkaew.

The attack took place in Mae Lan district of Pattani on Friday.

Police found the bodies of Anukul Khunkaew and his wife Yuphin on the road with gunshot wounds. Their 2 year old granddaughter received head injuries and was rushed to hospital. The couple’s motorcycle was found nearby.

According to police, the couple and their grandchild were returning home from a nearby market. Two men on a motorbike followed them. The man riding pillion fired shots before fleeing at speed.

The chief of the Pattani special task force ordered police to hunt down the attackers in the district and nearby Khok Pho and Nong Chik districts.

Relatives took the bodies to a local temple for funeral rites, as per the Muslim custom.

Surakarn burst into tears during the funeral rites on Saturday. He said his parents worked as rubber farmers and stayed with his elder sister, the injured girl’s mother.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times | Bangkok Post

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