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July 21, 2006

Thailand: Police Killed In Shootout In Muslim South

News from Agence France Presse via the Turkish Press and also reported by The Nation and the Bangkok Post details how yesterday, in Sai Buri district in Pattani province in the troubled south, police were ambushed by militants at a checkpoint at Ban Kalapor.

10 gunmen (15 according to the Bangkok Post) attacked the checkpoint, and three police officers were killed. Another was critically injured. In the gunfight, one insurgent was killed, and another was arrested. The checkpoint was staffed by nine officers, who had been preparing for a routine patrol when they were attacked. The remaining insurgents fled, taking with them four motorcycles belonging to villagers and also M16 assault rifles.

Major General Korkiat Wongworachart, the provincial police commander said that the attack was well-co-ordinated. Minutes before the ambush took place, a bomb had been detonated nearby, which had diverted the attention of other police officers. A second bomb was laid near the checkpoint, but police defused it.

AFP states that three militants were killed. Lt-Colonel Pakorn Chantrachota, the deputy chief of Task Force 43, said that a second militant was also arrested later. He said that two M16 rifles and six magazines had been found at the scene of the attack.

In another incident earlier yesterday, four suspected insurgents who were on a wanted list were arrested in Ban Salo village, Rueso district in Narathiwat province. Those arrested were Abdullohman Hama, Ahsae Tayoh, Ibroheng Rumae and Muhamadsari Abu. Police had a 500,000 baht ($13,173) bounty on Abdullohman Hama.

Following the arrest, the men were taken to Rueso district police station, and a crowd of 50 villagers surrounded the police station, demanding the release of the insurgents.

Most of the villagers were women, who had travelled from Ban Salo on the back of pickup trucks. They arrived at the police station at 1 pm, two hours after the four men had been taken. The mob tried to gain entry to the police station by force, but were prevented from doing so by reinforcements of soldiers and police arriving on the scene.

When the police later tried to ferry the men to a command office in Yala district, protesters blocked the road. The police got through by saying that the men would be released if no factual evidence against the men was found.

The southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, as well as two districts of Songhkla province, formerly comprised an independent Muslim sultanate called Pattani, before they were officially annexed by Thailand a century ago. The population in these provinces is 80% Muslim, and 20% Buddhist.

Since January 4 2004, an insurgency has been carried out by Muslim separatists, who wish to see the southern region secede from Thailand. Almost 1,400 people have died in the violence so far. Recently, the majority of victims of this violence seem to be Muslims themselves, individuals judged to be "collaborators" with the Thai authorities.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 21, 2006 7:58 AM

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