Following reports of the two bombs at around noon, police and bomb squad personnel went to the scene near a shop selling lottery tickets in Tambon Bang Nak to find the wrecked motorcycle that had carried the bomb, which had a fake licence plate attached.

Five police and eight civilians were injured in the attacks.

The injured police were: Pol Lieutenant Ritthichai Noisu-krong, Pol Snr Sgt-Major Chamnan Klanphetch, Pol Corporal Paisal Da-oh, Pol Corporal Narongdech Rodmak, and Pol Lance Corporal Charadol Nooduk. The other victims were Masainee Yago, Polawat Sama, Wandonlit Awaesani, Sirawan Jiambutr, Abdulnam Ma, Noi Tansiri, and defence volunteer Aming Yago. The other victim, Rusalan Da-oh, succumbed to injuries

In addition to the injured people, four nearby houses and two pick-up trucks were damaged. The second explosion minutes later occurred near the entrance of Muang Narathiwat Police Station, again wounding people and damaging an ATM and a motorcycle.

In related news, a 100-strong security team launched a search in Tambon Beurae of Pattani’s Sai Buri district after a shooting attack wounded two soldiers on Sunday. The two soldiers were in stable condition yesterday.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said government negotiators could still engage in peace talks with insurgent groups despite the absence of Lt General Nakrob Boonbuathong.

Nakrob was recently removed from his position as deputy director of the Internal Security Operations Command Unit 5 and dismissed from the negotiation team.

“There are still many trusted people to work on this task including the team leader, General Aksara Kerdphol,” he said, adding that he did not have information about team’s reported visit to Malaysia tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in Yala’s Muang district, rubber wood merchant Humdi Tohluboh and his employee Yunu Taleh were shot dead yesterday morning but police said they believed the motive might have been a business conflict unrelated to the insurgency.

 

Pol Lt-General Chalermpan Achalaboon, chief of the Southern Border Police Operations Centre, said the attacks might have been carried out by members of Barisan Revolusi Nasional or Runda Kumpulan Kecil.

Security officers sealed Tambon Yaring Municipality and ordered residents and children to stay indoors, as they swept the area for more threats in the morning.

There were six explosions at around midnight in the municipality, of which three bombings did not result in injuries.

The other three were on Na Wang Road, resulting in five police officers being injured, and two shops and two cars damaged.

At 7.05am, a pipe bomb planted in front of a resident’s home next to the Yaring Post Office led to the death of painter Nit Klodphetch, 62, who was opening his gate at the time. A passer-by was also injured.

Bomb-squad injuries

At 9.30pm, police was alerted about a bomb planted near a cemetery in Tambon Bang Pu, where they managed to disarm the bomb safely. While police were checking the nearby area, another bomb went off less than 10 metres away, resulting in six members of the bomb squad being injured – two of whom are in a critical condition.

Earlier, at 5.30pm on Wednesday, Tambon Krado Administrative Organisation official Theerapong Pattanabutr, 43, was shot dead by two assailants on a motorbike in Yarang district as he was riding his motorcycle home.

Police suspect the shooting was part of the ongoing unrest targeting state officials.

 

One of the places searched was the house of the wife of Sunkiffi Mana, a suspected insurgent who allegedly took part in the siege of Joh I Rong Hospital on March 13, when the hospital was used as a base to attack a nearby military camp.

Authorities had searched the house on Friday but did not find Sunkiffi.

Sunkiffi’s wife, who asked not be named, told police her husband had left her and their three children six years ago, and she had publicly urged him to surrender to police if he had not committed a crime. She said she earned a living as a rubber-tapper.

After the attack on the hospital, one suspect was arrested in Tambon Manangtayo in Narathiwat’s Muang District.

Meanwhile, militants on Monday night sprayed three neighbouring karaoke venues with M16 bullets in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district. They also threw a homemade bomb weighing approximately two kilograms into one of the business establishments, causing damage to its roof and wall.

The attackers then fled the scene.

Three people were injured including Witthaya Anukarn, 42, a defence volunteer in Tak Bai District who owns one of the karaokes, Winai Hasodsong, 29, owner of another karaoke venue, and Pattaya Meetham, 25, a waitress.

Police stayed clear of the area immediately after the incident, fearing the insurgents would spring a trap on personnel who responded to the attack.

When police did investigate the scene yesterday, they found 50 spent M16 cartridges and an empty clip. Witnesses said that an unknown number of insurgents had participated in the attack.

Tak Bai District superintendent Pol Colonel Jiradej Prasawang said the attack was the work of local insurgents from Tambon Koh Saton in a retaliatory action after they had been targeted by joint security operations recently.

 

The authorities believed two motorcycles and three pickup trucks had been transported to Yala to be used in attacks.

One of the motorcycles is a black and red Honda Wave, while the other is a black, grey and white Yamaha Fino. One of the pickups is an Isuzu D-Max, and another is a Mitsubishi Triton. There was no information available about the third truck.

“All checkpoints will try to intercept these vehicles,” said the source, adding that authorities also had the vehicles’ licence plate numbers.

Thousands of people have been killed in the decade-long wave of violence in the country’s southernmost provinces.

On Sunday, several attacks occurred in the deep South, one of them involving an insurgent raid of the Joh I Rong Hospital in Narathiwat province. No one in the hospital was physically harmed, but the insurgents did use it as a base to attack a nearby military facility.

Security officials have since surrounded several locations and searched mountain areas in the province in the hunt for the attackers.

“We have identified 10 suspects in the case already,” another source said yesterday. “We expect to arrest them soon.”

According to the second source, the suspects are residents of Narathiwat province.

Another security agency source said the hospital’s CCTV system recordings clearly showed the faces of attackers.

“Officials have already compared the faces to a criminal-record database and can match one of them to a suspect wanted for allegedly attacking a military base to steal weapons,” the source said.

The suspect has been identified as Tuanseh Tuankeuji, who allegedly played an important role in the weapons robbery. He has been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with that crime.

HUNDREDS of Muslim religious leaders came together yesterday to pray for the restoration of the morale of patients and health professionals at Joh I Rong Hospital, which was rocked by an insurgent attack on Sunday.

About 50 heavily armed insurgents stormed the Narathiwat-based hospital and used it as a base to launch attacks on an adjacent military base three days ago. Although the incident did not result in any fatalities, the shock has had a psychological effect on witnesses.

Marorning Jehwoh, the chairman of the Joh I Rong Imam Club, joined about 500 religious leaders visiting patients and medical staff at Joh I Rong Hospital yesterday, contributing to a warm atmosphere in the aftermath of the attacks.

Marorning also led Islamic leaders in a prayer to dispel bad luck and to bless people at the hospital.

//
Also present during the event were Narathiwat’s public health chief Dr Sommai Boonkliang and Joh I Rong Hospital’s director Dr Boonrat Praphanwong.

“Hospital staff have regained their morale. We are ready to serve the people,” Boonrat said.

An informed source said five suspects had been detained in connection with the hospital raid. They were found in possession of materials that could be used for bomb-making such as compressors. While the situation has improved at Joh I Rong Hospital, tensions have continued to spread across the southernmost region.

Dr Utissak Harirattanakul, the public health chief of nearby Yala province, said yesterday that he had instructed all sub-district hospitals to strengthen security measures.

He said gates should be closed at night and hospitals were required to have properly functioning CCTV systems at all times. “We will need to be stricter about checking vehicles coming into the hospital compound. Hospitals may also have to work more closely with village-defence volunteers and administrative officials in keeping watch,” he said.

Meanwhile, Colonel Yuttanam Petchmuang – a deputy spokesman for the Forward Command of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Region 4 – said yesterday security officials had launched a hunt for the insurgents who raided the hospital.

“We believe that they are now on the Tawe Mountain Range,” he said.

A source said intelligence reports suggested that insurgents were preparing to carry out more attacks in the deep South. “We have received reports that about seven people have moved into an area along the Songkhla-Yala border with guns,” the source said. Moreover, there are reports that another insurgent group has transported explosives to Yala’s Yaha district and plans to attack officials travelling along Highway 4065.

Yesterday, a bomb exploded in Narathiwat’s Rusoh district, damaging four houses but there were no casualties. Police suspected that bombers might have planned the bombing to disrupt a memorial for the late deputy superintendent of Rusoh Police Station, Pol Maj-General Jakkrit Wongprommet, but failed to gain access to the event, which took place at the Kanchanaphisek Park.

“So, they might have decided to plant the bomb in front of a local house instead,” a police source said.

 

Four insurgents on two motorcycles sprayed bullets from war weapons at police officials who were guarding the Joh I Rong train station. No one was injured. Security officials chased them as they rode alongside the train track. Just about 400 metres before the police reached them, the insurgents fired from an M79 but no one was hurt.

At the military ranger base next to the Joh I Rong Hospital, another group of 10 insurgents infiltrated from behind the mountain and fired from an M79, injuring seven soldiers. The injured soldiers – Siriwat Nuanthong, Theerasak Rattana-ubol, Narongchai Sangsing, Wuthikrai Dejbun, Runganothai Petwong, Sathit Chaibunta, Maperu Hayeladeng – were taken to the hospital.

Security officials countered the attack, forcing the insurgents to retreat and hide themselves in the Joh I Rong Hospital. The officials hid behind armoured vehicles while exchanging gunfire with the militants who remained in the hospital for more than an hour. More than 500 cartridge shells were found on the second floor of the hospital.

The third attack took place on a road in Joh I Rong district. An unknown number of insurgents planted a home-made bomb in a 20kg gas cyclinder on a bridge before setting it off.

ACTIVISTS have voiced concern that a coal-fired power plant proposed for Thepa district in Songkhla will cause more violence in the Deep South – as mosques, a religious school and Muslim cemeteries would have to be moved to make way for the plant.

They also claimed that all three public hearings about the plant and its coal transport pier were not held properly. They have said the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) should revoke the Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) on the project.

Yesterday, the Southernmost People’s Network of Community Right and Environment Safeguard for Peace (Permatamas) and a group of locals and students from Prince of Songkla University’s Pattani Campus gathered at ONEP to give a petition to the agency’s secretary general.

The group called for the EHIA to be dropped, and the full EHIA report be revealed, along with a report with specialists’ feedback.

The group’s representative from Pattani, Mustarsheedeen Waba, said the project would aggravate the insurgency in the Deep South because in order to build the new plant, about 240 families, plus two mosques, two Muslim cemeteries, a religious school, and a Buddhist temple would have to be relocated.

“The authorities did not respect the Muslim identity of the people in the Deep South, so the southern insurgency began. The coal-fired power plant project in Thepa district, which is in the zone of insurgency, will worsen the situation, as it will make the people feel that the state disrespects their faith and livelihoods,” Mustarsheedeen said.

The Thepa plant is an Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) project for a 2,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant that would use imported coal on 2,960 rai of land in Tambon Pak Bang.

According to a satellite image, the site of the plant is next to the community around the Thepa River Delta and a mangrove forest.

Permatamas coordinator and a professor at Prince of Songkla University Direk Hemnakorn said the group called on ONEP to stop consideration of the impact assessment for Thepa coal plant because three public forums on the projects were all severely unjust and had neglected opposition voices.

“In the first public hearing, they [Egat] gave free rice to all attendees. The second one, they hosted the event in secret and for the third hearing, the authorities deployed a troop of soldiers and police to guard the forum and did not let the opposition side join in the forum. How can we see the procedure justified?” Direk asked.

“The power plant site is also only 8 kilometres away from Pattani province, where there have been no environmental or health studies for the project done and this makes the people in Pattani feel they are marginalised by the state, as their well-being ignored.”

Piyanan Soponkanabhorn, ONEP deputy secretary general, received the petition from the activist groups and assured them that she would pass it to the secretary general to consider. She said consideration of Thepa coal plant was just in the first phase and Egat had not resubmitted the amended EHIA report yet.

Direk asked to copy the full EHIA report for the project together with a report on feedback by the specialist board. But this was denied. Piyanan said they had to get permission first.

The five men – identified as Isyasa Ha-yae, Maolana Samoh, Fadlan Sohman, Charoen Umasa, and Annungwa Kasor – escaped during the raid, which led to the seizure of a large quantity of bomb-making materials and weapons and the arrest of suspected Runda Kumpulan Kecil operative Sabari Jeh-ali, 30.

Gunfire was exchanged on Wednesdasy but no one was hurt.

The five fugitives, all reportedly armed, are regarded as national security threats, as they allegedly carried out attacks in Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces and are also allegedly linked to bombings in Phuket, Koh Samui in Surat Thani and Songkhla’s Hat Yai district.

Almost 300 security personnel were involved in the raid including an Army explosive ordnance disposal team.

Naval and Airforce personnel also helped in the hunt for the fugitives in boats and a helicopter. Four schools on the island were closed to allow the search for the fugitives.

Three cottages hidden in |the mangroves

Colonel Yutthanam Phetmaung, Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Front Command deputy spokesman, told a press conference in Pattani’s Yarang district that Sabari operated under a group led by Seri Waemamu, who was wanted for the Hat Yai bombing.

Sabari allegedly confessed that he joined the separatist movement upon Maolana’s invitation and that his job was to make bombs with Isyasa, Yutthanam said.

The insurgent’s base on the island – believed to be at least two years old – was made up of three cottages hidden among mangrove trees, he said.

The first cottage was used for assembling bombs, he said, adding that it contained explosive-making materials including kerosene to mix with urea fertiliser, two large gas cylinders, gun powder mixed with ball bearings and a boat load of gun powder.

It also contained a boat load of bomb shrapnel made of chopped metal bars, solar cell panels and guns and ammunitions.

The spokesman said another cottage was used for sleeping and cooking, with a shotgun with 20 bullets and a large amount of petrol found inside.

The third cottage was used as a sleeping quarters, a meeting room and a prayer room.

Inside, there were three boats, two 15-kilogram gas cylinders with bombs attached, copies of the Koran, clothes, hammocks plus survival gear.

Yutthanam thanked the members of the public who provided the authorities with the leads that led to the operation and urged people to tip-off the authorities about suspected illegal activities via the 1341 hotline.