UPDATE: 4000 villagers attend funeral rites for slain monks in Narathiwat

Over 4,000 villagers, including more than 300 monks from several temples in southern provinces and border provinces of Malaysia, have attended a bathing ritual for the two monks slain by gunmen who stormed Wat Rattananuparb in Narathiwat on Friday night.

Read more about the raid HERE.

The bathing rites for Phra Khru Prachote Rattananurak, the abbot of Wat Rattananuparb, and another monk was attended an co-charied by the Fourth Army Region commander Lt-Gen Pornsak Poonsawat and the chief monk of the southern region, Phra Promjariyajarn.

For security reason, the people who came from other districts and provinces were given the priority to perform the bathing rite so that they could return home before nightfall.

The temple’s abbot and three other monks were having tea at a pavilion on the temple ground before their daily prayer on Friday evening when about 10 gunmen, believed to be southern militants, attacked and killed the Wat’s head abbot and another monk. Two other monks were also seriously injured in the assault.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission has issued a statement condemning the assault and the murder of a Muslim cleric of Rueso district of Narathiwat back on January 11.

The commission also urged people in the restive region to cooperate with the authorities to watch out for suspicious activities or people in order to prevent violent incidents from occurring.

PHOTO: Wat Rattananuparb – Thai PBS