One Killed, Three Injured In Narathiwat Train Attack

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One killed, three injured in Narathiwat train attack

NARATHIWAT, April 10 (TNA) – A moving train in the southern border province of Narathiwat was attacked by AK47-wielding men in knitted ski masks, leaving one railwayman shot to death and three others wounded.

The three gunmen opened fire at a Sungai Kolok-Phatthalung State Railways of Thailand train on Friday morning in Narathiwat’s Rangae district, 200 metres after it had left Salotradae station, a small stop.

The body of the victim, identified as Kiatisak Ownwang, 35, was found in the last carriage in a guard room. He was shot in the neck, shoulder and left arm. The three wounded were sent to hospital.

According to initial investigations, police said three gunmen in black jumpsuits and face-covering ski masks carrying AK-47s were seen standing near the railway before they began shooting at the train.

The incident led railway officials to delay trains departing from Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok station to Hat Yai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Bangkok about three hours. (TNA)

MCOT English news

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Rebels storm train, shoot rail workers

Services halt as one man killed, 3 injured

Published: 11/04/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

Railway staff were killed and injured in an insurgent attack yesterday, which prompted the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to suspend train services in the far South.

The SRT suspended train services in the southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat after the morning attack.

Thanongsak Pongprasert, the SRT director for southern services, said the state enterprise had to stop its services in the three provinces to protect train staff and passengers.

The stoppage followed a fatal attack on train no. 463 running from Phatthalung province to the Sungai Kolok railway station in Narathiwat shortly before noon.

When the train was passing tambon Chalerm about 200 metres from its previous stop at the Salotradae railway station in Rangae district, three men in black outfits and wearing balaclavas to hide their faces emerged with assault rifles. They fired at the eighth and last carriages of the train where five people were boarding.

Train attendant Kiattisak Onwang, 35, was hit in the neck and in his left side. He died instantly.

Three other people were shot and seriously injured. They were Kalisa Salae, 30, train attendant Wan-asawee Kaseng, 22, and paramilitary ranger and guard Marusee Madeng, 26.

The train driver accelerated away from the attack site for fear the gunmen would board the train and attack others.

The next stop was the Tanyongmas railway station. The injured were then taken to Rangae Hospital for treatment.

Before train services were suspended, the incident delayed north-bound trains that were due to leave the Sungai Kolok station for Surat Thani, Hat Yai station in Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Bangkok by an average of three hours each.

At present, north-bound trains from the South are leaving only from the Hat Yai railway station.

Meanwhile, Pol Maj Gen Surachai Suebsuk, chief of Narathiwat police, ordered 3,700 police officers under his command to step up security following three bomb explosions near a grocer's store in Waeng district, the Plaza Hotel's car park in Sungai Kolok district, and another grocery in Sungai Padi district on Thursday.

The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre yesterday launched a seminar with Islamic committees from the southern border provinces.

The two-day seminar, held in Songkhla province, will discuss ways to restore peace in the far South and encourage members of the local Islamic committees to help cultivate good relations between authorities and local people.

Also in Rangae district yesterday, security authorities launched a project to rehabilitate deteriorated plantations owned by local people.

The project covers about 500 rai of plantations in six villages of tambon Kalisa in Rangae.

Authorities spent more than 1 million baht in government money buying cultivation tools, fertiliser, seeds and pesticides for local people to revive their plantations, in another step to improve relations between them and the locals.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1489...ot-rail-workers