Insurgency

Thailand’s south in mourning after insurgent attack killed 15 in Yala

Published

2 weeks ago

November 8, 2019

Thailand’s south in mourning after insurgent attack killed 15 in Yala | The Thaiger

Thailand’s south is grappling with grief after 15 people died in an insurgent attack in the southern province of Yala on Tuesday night. Those who died were mostly defence volunteers, manning a security checkpoint in Yala – sitting ducks for the much-better organised and resourced southern insurgents.

The south, accustomed to attacks from militant groups for nearly two decades, has been left reeling from this latest brutal atrocity. It’s the third violent crime to take place in that particular village. The first took place in 2004, when a man had his throat slashed and the second was just three months ago, when the army was targeted in a bomb attack. This latest assault however, is unprecedented.

The attack has also been hardly reported in overseas media as the crisis in Thailand’s deep south appears to attract little attention from the world media.

The men stationed at these checkpoints are seen as easy targets as they have no choice but to remain and carry out their job, under-resourced and out-gunned. Now the 4th Army Chief, Lt Gen Phonsak Phunsawat is calling for security to be improved to protect these volunteers.

On Tuesday night, the checkpoint in Yala was sprayed with bullets around 11.30pm, as well as having grenades and spikes launched at it. Up to 60 people are believed to have been involved in the attack.

Lt Gen Phonsak says those behind the planning of the attack are being protected, accusing surrounding villages of helping to protect their identity. He claims there are 118 villages listed as places that are potentially providing assistance to the insurgents.

“They the insurgent attackers appear to vanish into thin air immediately after they carry out an attack. And that’s because they have hideouts right in the villages.”

One of the volunteers killed was Samsami Sama.

The Bangkok Post reports that his 40 year old widow Sarinya Chaiya recalls hearing gun shots that night and prayed that her husband was okay. A few hours later, the chief of the village came to inform her that he had been killed.

Sarinya now has to raise their 3 year old daughter alone and wonders if she should leave the violence-stricken region she has lived since marrying her husband a decade ago, to return to her hometown in Phayao, northern Thailand.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Insurgency

Two killed, granddaughter wounded, in southern Thailand drive-by shooting

Published

3 days ago

November 17, 2019

Greeley Pulitzer

Two killed, granddaughter wounded, in southern Thailand drive-by shooting | The Thaiger

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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Insurgency

Six suspects detained for questioning over Yala massacre

Published

1 week ago

November 10, 2019

Greeley Pulitzer

Six suspects detained for questioning over Yala massacre | The Thaiger

ORIGINAL PHOTO: Reuters

More than 200 troops and police conducted searches in Thailand’s southern border provinces on Friday night, looking for suspects in Tuesday’s brutal attack in Yala Province that killed 15.

Nine suspects were arrested, but three were released shortly after checks showed they had no prior connections with the insurgency or criminal records. The rest were detained for questioning. Two other suspects were earlier detained as well in the days following the massacre.

Security forces found several knapsacks and bandages during the searches, but no weapons.

Police say background checks showed some of the six had existing arrest warrants, but more checks are needed to determine whether they were involved in the Yala checkpoint attack on Tuesday night.

Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha was reported to have ordered a partial curfew in some districts of Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, effective December 1. But a subsequent clarification from an official Army spokesperson say that there no such command but that they were looking at other ways to tighten security in the tour bled area.

The army says now that won’t upgrade the curfew in the troubled deep South following an attack that killed 15 people on Tuesday night.

A spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command says, contrary to some news reports, no curfew would be imposed at this stage.

Read the rest of that story HERE.

SOURCE: Thai PBS World

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Insurgency

Army clarifies curfew rumours for districts in Southern Thailand

Published

2 weeks ago

November 10, 2019

Greeley Pulitzer

Army clarifies curfew rumours for districts in Southern Thailand | The Thaiger

PHOTO: New Straits Times

The army says now that won’t upgrade the curfew in the troubled deep South following an attack that killed 15 people on Tuesday night.

A spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command says, contrary to some news reports, no curfew would be imposed at this stage.

He says the Army is urging people not to panic.

“There is no immediate need to impose a curfew, and people should not be frustrated.”

Attacks blamed on islamic militants in the southernmost province of Yala left 15 community guards dead. The three southern Thai provinces that border Malaysia remain a hotbed of Islamic militant activity, leaving up to 7,000 soldiers, volunteers, officials and civilians dead. The insurgency has been been going for nearly two decades.

A Friday announcement in the Royal Gazette allowed the director of ISOC to consider curfew in the several southern districts, effective from December 1 for up to a year, but ISOC explained that this only empowers LSOC to impose curfew.

“It is not an announcement of curfew per se,” said the spokesman.

SOURCE: The Nation

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