Muslims Claim Thai Security Agency's Early Reports Of Mass Shooting 'Unfair'

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Muslims claim early reports of mass shooting 'unfair'

The Nation

PATTANI: -- The Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation yesterday criticised as unfair a Thai security agency's jumping to conclusions after listening to the Army's onesided comments on the Sunday shooting deaths of five civilians by paramilitary rangers in Pattani's Nongchik district.

Pattani Governor Theera Mintrasak has assigned a special task committee to probe the shootings, focusing on the injured villagers' and rangers' testimonies, and trying to ensure justice for all sides. He said the incident could affect attempts to bring peace to the southernmost region.

The Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation in its statement yesterday offered condolences to the affected families and condemned whoever inflicted the death, pain and property damage on the civilians.

The foundation urged that when considering the civilian shooting, that episode be kept separate from the M79 grenade attack on a ranger outpost less than an hour before, because it occurred at a different time and a different village.

The foundation's initial inquiry with the locals found that the victims were travelling to a Muslim burial ceremony at the Ban Tor Po Mosque in Tambon Lipa Sango. For the passengers' safety, the truck driver opted for the other route rather than one that passed the attacked outpost.

One ranger stopped the truck to ask where they were going, while another ranger team opened fire at them, the foundation said. It pointed out that the local inquiry and witness interviews told a different story to that given to the media by the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc). The foundation urged the agencies to thoroughly consider all facts about this incident, especially when there were surviving witnesses who were innocent elderly people who now feared for their safety.

The state agency's hasty conclusion of what happened after hearing the rangers' side was unfair for the affected families, the foundation said, urging supervisors and other parties to consider if the rangers' action was appropriate to their duty in the area.

MajGeneral Akara Thiprojana, deputy director of the forward command of Isoc Region 4, affirmed that while factfinding was ongoing, remedial measures were being implemented for the affected families. Akara said he had instructed officials, especially in Pattani, to be cautious and watch out for troublemakers inciting local hatred toward Thai government officials. They could further worsen disunity by attacking state officials and claiming it as a response to or revenge for the shooting.

A paramilitary ranger volunteer Thanong Sinthu, 40, was killed in a driveby shooting in Tambon Naket of Pattani's Khok Pho district yesterday morning. He was riding a motorcycle home after sending his daughter to school. A policeman from Cho Airong police station Pol Sr SgtMaj Veerachai Yudam, 40, was seriously wounded in a driveby shooting in Narathiwat's Cho Airong district yesterday afternoon, while riding his motorcycle home on the YaningCho Airong road. The policeman returned fire with his pistol and his attackers fled.

Sapina Waeuma, 26, yesterday filed a complaint with the Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation to help her husband Mayaki Jeharong, 36, who was arrested by Thai security officers surrounding her Tanyongpao Village on Sunday. She urged the state officials to search villagers' houses in a polite manner and cited that two elderly people with heart conditions and high blood pressure were so shocked by the officials' violent manner during a search, they'd fallen ill and died.

-- The Nation 2012-02-02