Four Shot Dead By Troops In Thai South: Police

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Four shot dead by troops in Thai south: police

PATTANI, January 30, 2012 (AFP) - Thai paramilitaries shot dead four people including an elderly man and a teenager in the kingdom's violence-torn far south because they feared they were under attack, police said Monday.

The victims were male Muslim relatives returning from a funeral in a truck, the driver of the vehicle told police in Pattani, one of three southernmost provinces plagued by a long-running insurgency.

"Army rangers saw a pick-up truck and asked it to stop. They heard a gunshot and assumed they were being fired on, so they pounded the truck with gunfire, killing four men and injuring five others," said a police report on the incident on Sunday evening.

A 70-year-old and an 18-year-old man were among the dead, while five men and boys were also hurt including three teenagers, aged 14, 15 and 19, and a 76-year-old.

Two guns were found in the truck, although the report did not reveal whether either had been fired. Police said the driver told officers that the weapons did not belong to anyone on the truck.

"We will have to investigate this incident carefully and I will interview both the rangers and survivors to ensure justice to both sides," said Police Colonel Chonnawee Chamareuk, Nongjik district police chief.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, near the border with Malaysia, have been riven by a complex insurgency, waged without clear aims.

There is a heavy presence of government troops, supported by armed paramilitaries.

According to the latest figures from Deep South Watch, which closely monitors the southern conflict, almost 5,000 people -- both Buddhists and Muslims -- have been killed and 8,300 wounded since the unrest began in 2004.

People in the region complain of a long history of discrimination against ethnic Malay Muslims by authorities in the Buddhist-majority nation, including alleged abuses by the armed forces.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-01-30

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PM calls meeting with DPM Yutthasak, Nat'l Security Council Chief, Supreme Commander to review violence in southern provinces after attacks in Pattani /MCOT

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PM calls meeting with DPM Yutthasak, Nat'l Security Council Chief, Supreme Commander to review violence in southern provinces after attacks in Pattani /MCOT

PM assures foreign investors of Thailand’s political stability

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SOUTH CRISIS

Four die, six wounded in Pattani incidents

The Nation

Pattani:-- A ranger was wounded in a presumed insurgent assault on a Pattani base on Sunday night, while four residents were killed and another five wounded in a roadside attack on their vehicle a short time later in Pattani's Nong Chik district.

The authorities believe the assailants in both incidents were from the same group, although there is still conflicting information on who attacked the pickup, killing the four.

The victims were taken to Nong Chik hospital, where the wounded are now being treated.

Initial police investigation showed that an unknown number of men used an M79 grenade launcher in their attack on a ranger base in Nong Chik district at about 10pm last night. One soldier suffered slight injuries.

The rangers pursued the attackers. On the Pattani to Yala Route 418, they came upon the wreckage of a bulletriddled pickup truck and discovered the bodies of four individuals and five wounded. All were taken to hospital.

The authorities initially believed the assailants attacked the ranger base, later firing on the pick up truck as they were fleeing

Police are investigating reports that the rangers pursuing the assailants fired at the pickup truck after assuming that gunfire erupted from the vehicle.

Investigators did not speculate as to which group was responsible for the incidents.

-- The Nation 2012-01-30

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No conclusion whether four killed in Pattani shooting linked to armed group: Military

PATTANI, Jan 30 - The Thai authorities have not yet concluded whether the men shot dead in a pickup truck late Sunday night were linked to an armed militant group in this southern border province, according to a senior military officer.

Maj-Gen Acra Thiproj, deputy director of the Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command, said no conclusion has been reached as of whether the slain villagers were involved with those who attacked the army ranger base pending a forensic examination.

Gen Acra said Region 4 Army commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Thammasarorat pledged to ensure justice and provide assistance to the families of the dead. Following the incident, some officials were sent to seek better understanding with the families of those who were killed and other villagers to prevent misunderstanding.

The all four slain were Muslim male villagers--Saha Samae, 67; Hama Sani, 65; Azman Duramae, 55; and Ropa Buraheng,18. Relatives collected their bodies for a Muslim funeral.

Among the five injured were a 74-year-old man and a 15-year-old teenager. All were Muslims.

Gen Acra said a group of assailants fired three M-79 grenades at a ranger base in Nong Chik district late Sunday night. The rangers fired back and pursued their assailants. The departing attackers reportedly ran into a pick-up truck. Rangers then alerted local authorities to intercept them until they found a suspicious pick-up truck accompanied by two motorcycles.

The rangers asked them to stop for examination. The motorcycles sped off, while the driver of the pickup stopped far away before veering into a roadside ditch.

The rangers challenged the men in the vehicle to identify themselves, but heard a gunshot in response as they approached the vehicle. The soldiers then shot at the vehicle resulting in four dead and five wounded, Gen Acra said.

The general said initially it was believed that the slain may have been used as human shields for the assailants.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa who supervises national security defended the military action, saying the shooting was not the result of misunderstanding.

The authorities were confident that the truck’s occupants were involved in the attack on the ranger unit attack as some weapons were found in the vehicle, the deputy prime minister said, explaining that local authorities must come to a better understanding with local villagers to prevent misunderstanding and the possible spread of distorted information. (MCOT online news).

-- TNA 2012-01-30

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Three stories and three versions of the events. Not a good start.

[folium]

sadly it's often the first story that is closest to the truth.

The truth often becomes "stretched" post the event once the scale of a f-up comes clear and Operation Ass Cover clicks into action.

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Innocence of Pattani shooting victims doubted

The Nation

Pattani

PATTANI: -- The military had no intention of harming innocent locals in a shooting incident in Pattani late Sunday night in which four Muslim villagers were killed and four others wounded, Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha said yesterday.

He asked why, if those killed and wounded were indeed villagers, a large number of war weapons were found in the pickup in which they were travelling.

"There was also a motorcycle, which carried an M-79 grenade launcher, involved in a shooting," he said, referring to an M-79 attack on a security outpost in Nong Chik district prior to the fatal incident.

Yuthasak, who is tasked with national security, dismissed news reports that Army paramilitary rangers from 4302nd Company had fired at the speeding truck in panic.

"If they were villagers on the way to say prayers, why were they running away when asked to stop? An investigation into the incident is under way," he added.

Major Akkhara Thiproj, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command's forward post, said the military could confirm that one of the men fleeing on a motorcycle after launching M-79 grenades had then jumped onto the passing truck.

"There is also confirmation that the pickup shot at by rangers was the same one seen picking up a suspected attacker, not a different one," he said.

"Coming to a conclusion at this point [after the M-79 incident], the attacker grabbed an opportunity to involve the occupants in the pursuit, with the purpose of using them as shields," he added.

Akkhara acknowledged that the rangers had opened fire on the pickup during the pursuit, while Yuthasak insisted he did not believe the victims were innocent villagers.

At 10pm on Sunday, an M-79 grenade attack was launched on an outpost manned by Army rangers, wounding one of them.

The rangers, helped by other security officials setting up road checkpoints, launched a pursuit and found the suspected pickup, a silver Isuzu with a Pattani licence plate, being driven in the wrong direction down a one-way section of Route 418.

Gunfire then broke out, the spokesman said. Although he did not say clearly who had initiated it, there were no reports about shots having being fired from the vehicle.

An 18-year-old was among the four dead, and a 15-year-old among the four wounded, in addition to one person who was unscathed. All nine occupants were residents of Moo 1 of Tanyong Buloh, in tambon Puloh Puyoh.

The military prevented the media, police and civilian defence volunteers from entering the scene, before Nong Chik district chief Luechai Jaroensab managed to enter from the other direction one hour later and contacted ambulances for a medical evacuation.

An initial crime scene investigation found 26 spent AK-47 assault rifle cartridges, and 30 spent M-16 rifle cartridges.

The uninjured occupant of the pickup, aged 15, said all nine were heading for a charity event in another tambon.

Police sources said the rangers, perhaps panicking or overreacting, or both, had initiated the gunfight in the belief that the pickup had taken part in the M-79 grenade attack.

The Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre later gave initial aid payments of Bt100,000 to the families of all four of the people who were killed and Bt10,000 to the families of the wounded. Director Thawee Songsong also pledged to investigate the incident, with the participation of outside observers including public prosecutors and villagers.

He told the villagers not to worry, because identifying the rifles from which the bullets were fired would be easy as the spent cartridges found at the scene had serial numbers on them. "Facts and the truth need to be made available for the sake of peace and reconciliation," he said.

-- The Nation 2012-01-31

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Rangers behind the shooting death of funeral goers: Nong Chik villagers

PATTANI: -- Authorities are debating about admitting that the shooting death of five villagers were "a case of mistaken identity" and pay compensation for the victims but complicating the mater is the fact that many senior security leaders have already jumped to the conclusion that the dead were insurgents.

Full story: