Nail ban proposed
The Internal Security Operation Command (Isoc) is to consider banning the possession of three to five inch nails which are being used by militants to blow out the tyres on police and military vehicles.
Isoc was also planning to ban by-passers from stopping or sleeping in rubber plantations, Fourth Region chief of staff Major General Chamlong Khunsong said.The ban on nails was an attempt to stop militants from using them as road spikes to prevent or slow pursuit after attacks. Chamlong said a decision would be made this week. Isoc last week passed a regulation prohibiting males in the three Muslim-majority provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, as well as four Malay-speaking districts in Songkhla, from riding pillion on motorcycles. Women are permitted to do so but on condition they do not cover their faces. Many of the target killings carried out by militants are done by gunmen riding pillion. Chamlong claimed the measure had a great deal of public support. Militants yesterday used 100 nails as roads spikes to disrupt police in Yala's Raman district. In Pattani's Sai Buri, a retired government official, Suthep Petchinda, 68, survived an attempt on his life. Suthep was selling goods in his small shop when a gunman walked up and fired several shots at him.
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