Published on November 17, 2005

Police wait for 11 hours before entering village attacked by armed gang. Unknown assailants used automatic weapons and grenades to massacre an entire family of nine Muslim villagers and injure eight neighbours early yesterday morning.

The dramatic attack occurred at 1am in Ra-ngae district and was carried out by more than 10 assailants armed with weapons such as AK-47s and M-16 rifles, police said.

Among the nine dead were an eight-month-old infant, an eight-year-old girl, as well as four teenage girls.

The slayings raised suspicions on all sides, with officials refusing to enter the crime scene until 11 hours after the killings.

Villagers said the officials did not venture into the village area until 7am. Even then, they would not enter the crime scene and remained only at the front of the village.

The incident reflected the level of difficulty faced by government officials, who are not trusted by local residents.

Director of the Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command, Lt General Kwanchart Klaharn, admitted that the closest military unit was only 10 minutes away but defended the decision to delay the entry on the grounds that the incident might have been a part of a plot by insurgents.

Kwanchart pointed to the September hostage crisis in Tanyonglimo in which two marines were taken hostage by villagers and later beaten to death by suspected insurgents.

Narathiwat’s Governor Pracha Therat, who arrived on the scene with deputy command of the Fourth Army Region, Maj General Ongkorn Thongprasom, said it took only 10 minutes to clear the air with the 300 villagers who were there to observe the crime scene.

One villager among the 300-plus observing the situation said there was a lot of confusion as to what had taken place. And people wondered among themselves why the authorities had taken so long to get to the village, he said.

Authorities had misunderstood the gathering as potentially being a trouble for them, he said, and it was not until midday that it became clear that people were just there to observe the crime.

Duraheng Jehso, the father of three injured children, said he was so afraid he had to wait about three hours before he could drive his kids to the hospital.

“The only thing I could do for them was provide them with paracetamol pain killer and wipe their blood with a cloth,” Duraheng said.

Narathiwat’s Governor Pracha Therat told a press conference yesterday that Suding Awaebuesa, head of the family of nine that was killed, had defected to the government side five months ago.

He said the massacre might have been retaliation by militants because of his decision to defect.

In Bangkok, General Rungroj Mahasalanond, the Armed Forces supreme commander, called for a speedy investigation into the killings. He dismissed any suggestion that the authorities were behind the incident.

“I’m afraid the militants are trying to create a situation to confuse people and make them think this incident is the doing of the government,” Rungroj said.

The Nation

Ra-ngae, Narathiwat

Post your comment to this story here