One killed, two groups attacked in Pattani, Yala
The son of a former kamnan in Tambon Puyud in Pattani was gunned down in front of his house yesterday, while four village defence volunteers came under a hail of gunfire in a tea shop in Khok Pho district, police said.
Abdulleh Hayor, 28, was sitting in front of the house of the deputy village chief when a group of gunmen drove up on motorbikes and opened fire.Separately, the four village defence volunteers - Hama Abu, 50, Hassan Deramae, 58, Kasem Sundaewor, 32, and Mahduring Beraheng, 40 - were sipping tea at roadside shop on the Pattani-Yala highway around Tambon Paklo in Khok Pho district when a group of gunmen pulled up in a small car and sprayed the shop with bullets. All four suffered gunshot wounds and are being treated at a nearby hospital. A significant number of village defence volunteers have come under attack by militants, while many are suspected of turning a blind eye to the activities of the insurgents for fear that they could be killed. Meanwhile, in Yala's Tambon Lamai, Army Private Suksak Uerthaisong, 24, was injured by a roadside blast when a bomb planted by suspected militants went off while he and six other soldiers were conducting a foot patrol. In Bangkok, Army chief-of-staff General Montree Sangkrasap said yesterday the Army had no objection to foreign governments issuing travel warnings for Thailand and the southern provinces, saying they had the right to warn their citizens because of potential violence. Three Western embassies in Thailand updated their warnings on Friday about possible terrorism after Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas said Muslim insurgents in the South could extend their attacks to Bangkok. The Australian, Canadian and British embassies revised their advisories warning travellers to exercise caution in Bangkok as well as the South, while the US Embassy did not change its standing advice to exercise care in both areas.
|
