Volunteer ranger shot dead in Yala

Police report that a volunteer ranger has been shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle in the Raman district of the southern border province of Yala this morning. According to a radio report called into the Thathong police station, the attack occurred about 8:45am in front of Prachanukroh 41 School on the Kotabaru-Thung Yang Daeng road.

Witnesses say 43 year old Nikorn Sombatthong, of the 41st Ranger Regiment, was returning to camp on a motorcycle. He was overtaken by 2 men on another motorcycle. The passenger fired 6 shots from a 9mm pistol, hitting him in the head and the back. Nikorn reportedly died on the spot.

2 people on a motorbike, one driving, the other brandishing a weapon, is a popular method of chasing and shooting rangers in attacks in the South.

Yala is near the Malaysian border in which the province has been the scene of a decades-long, bloody separatist movement known as the Southern Insurgency.

Police say they are still investigating the incident.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post | Facebook