Man 50 Shot Dead In South

[cojones]

SOUTHERN VIOLENCE : Gardener, 50, shot to death in Pattani

Published on November 18, 2004

Hundreds gather in Narathiwat to call for more govt assistance

A villager was fatally shot in the southernmost province of Pattani yesterday, while hundreds of victims of violence called for urgent government help to ease their severe hardship.

Noi Sang-amphai, 50, a gardener from Yaring district, was attacked while on the way back home from taking his wife to work at about 7am. He later died in Pattani Hospital of four gunshots to his arms and body, said Pol Colonel Suthon Ditsayabutr, superintendent of Yaring police station.

Elsewhere in the province, two separate bomb threats turned out to be hoaxes.

Kittiwat public school in Mai Kaen district received a phone call at about 7.30am saying a bomb had been placed on the school grounds. Chaos erupted and students were asked to leave immediately.

In the other incident, a cardboard box was placed on a chair in front of the house of Mahama Naengsi, who runs a construction business, with a note warning of mobile-phone bombs and calling for support for the three

southernmost provinces to gain self-autonomy.

But the box was found to contain only a red brick.

In adjacent Narathiwat province, the house of Jinda Chuaylek, 29 – located near a rubber plantation in Rusoh district – was raided and torched on Tuesday night, said Colonel Watcharin Ammaraphitak, superintendent of Rusoh police station.

Some 300 villagers whose family members were injured and property damaged by assailants turned up at the province’s city hall to meet Surasri Kosinnawin, a National Human Rights Commissioner, and called for the government to speed up assistance.

Hundreds of merchants had evacuated out of the region for fear of their safety.

Those staying had stored dry foods and sundries in preparation for difficult times.

About 200 public schools out of 400 will close until the security situation improves, said Sanguan Intarak, secretary-general of the Teachers’ Federation in Narathiwat.

Meanwhile, the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command has set up a centre to register anyone unaccounted for during the Tak Bai crackdown last month, spokesman Colonel Somkuan Saengpataranet said.

Villagers can report their missing relatives at all districts in the three southernmost provinces, he said.

The move is an attempt to set the record straight as rumours about unreported victims, which cannot be verified, have put the country in a bad light, he added.