30 suspected insurgents rounded up in Narathiwat

Military and police combined forces launched the operation at about 1 a.m. Sunday to raid many locations simultaneously in Yi Ngor district's Ban Kuyi and Bacho district's Ban Sungaibatu after local residents' tipoff indicated some militants were hide in the two village, said army spokesman Col. Acra Tiproch.

Of 30 arrested suspects, five are key militants member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK), 15 are operational cell members and the rest are supporters and sympathisers, he said.

The group is under leadership of Abdullahmae Pireesi and Makata Pireesi who are also under custody, Acra said.

The officials confiscated two M16 rifles believed to be stolen from the 4th Development Battalion in Narathiwat's Joh I Rong more than three years ago, he said.

"The operation to bring down the militants was conducted precisely as we got tip off from local residents and the information from interrogation of RKK members arrested previously," Acra said. "So that the reason why the operation was done without casualty on both sides," he added.

Dubbed as Southern Protection Operation, authorities in the restive south launched a massive arrest to bring suspected militants and supporters into detention. As of yesterday, 178 suspects are now being under military custody. They are detained in two separated military camps in Pattani and Yala.

The authorities guaranteed the suspects would get good treatment and justice in accordance with legal procedure, Acra said. They would be allowed to see relatives, but not lawyers as long as they are not officially charged.

For those who have solid evidence to prove their involvement in a spate of violence in the unrest region would be brought into justice process and the rest would go to reeducation programs to implant "right" attitude toward the Thai authorities, he said. They would also get job training during their time in the military custody, he added

The Nation