Four soldiers die in insurgent attack in southern Thailand

[News_Editor]

Four soldiers die in insurgent attack in southern Thailand

2011-01-21 08:30:47 GMT+7 (ICT)

NARATHIWAT, THAILAND (BNO NEWS) -- Four soldiers were killed, and six other wounded, on Wednesday night after dozens of armed rebels raided a military camp in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat, army spokesman Banpot Poonpian said.

At least 30 insurgents were involved in the attack in the army camp, which was manned by about 80 soldiers who had just finished dinner, the local daily Bangkok Post reported.

The insurgents moved in on the camp armory and took away over 50 war weapons, including M16 assault rifles, Uzi submachine guns and an M60 7.62mm portable machine gun, the first ever captured by the insurgents, according to a source from the Internal Security Operations Command of the 4th Army Region.

The attackers engaged in a 30 minute battle. It is unknown how many insurgents were killed or wounded.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted the authorities had been successful in reducing the level of violence in the deep South.

The army camp is situated near Jaw Hai Long village, where Muslim militants raided a military arms depot in January 2004, killing five soldiers and making off with 350 semi-automatic rifles.

National army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said last night’s attack will not affect the government's plan to lift the emergency decree in the three southern border provinces. The decree allows authorities to make arrests without charges, detain suspects for weeks and grants security forces some immunity from prosecution for actions carried out in the line of duty.



The government had predicted that the insurgents would try to provoke the authorities as the meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) nears, Prime Minister Vejjajiva added.



The violence continued on Thursday morning, with three bomb explosions in the three southernmost provinces, which police blamed on southern insurgents. Two men were wounded.

After the 2004 raid, Thailand's army launched a series of attacks on the separatists in the mainly Muslim deep South. The escalated violence has claimed more than 4,100 lives over the last seven years.

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