Three teams of 20 wanted for Narathiwat police station attack

[webfact]

Three teams of 20 wanted for Narathiwat police station attack
By Narong Nuansakul,
Santhiti Khojitmet
The Nation

 

 

NARATHIWAT:   -- Police suspect the deadly attack on Narathiwat's Rangae Police Station that left one officer dead and five wounded was carried out by 20 insurgency sympathisers from Sukhirin, Rangae and Chanae districts in the deep South province.

 

Narathiwat police deputy chief Colonel Rathboworn Bamrungros said the 20 sympathisers were divided into three teams.

He said the members of one team were disguised as soldiers at a phony checkpoint in Sukhirin, where they stole a Toyota pickup for use in the attack.

 

He said members of another team were dressed like construction workers and they sat in the back of the pickup and opened fire at the police station, while the final team drove the shooters.

 

DNA samples and fingerprints were collected from the pickup, found abandoned at a rubber plantation in tambon Tanyong Limo, Rangae, on Thursday night, the colonel said, adding that the investigation would focus on persons wanted for the fatal shooting of Tambon Romthai Administrative Organisation secretary Boonlert Jindathananant on December 29, 2015, as police believed the same group was involved in both attacks.

 

Fourth Army Region deputy chief Maj-General Kuakul Innajak inspected Rangae Police Station on Friday and received a report on the investigation’s progress.

 

Kuakula praised the bravery of Pol Corporal Pulsawat Sathien-udon, who returned fire at the assailants, and said the officer should be promoted.

 

Kuakul also visited three of the wounded – Staff Sergeant Ekkawit Thongbutr at Rangae Hospital and Sgt-Major Theerapong Kaewchamnan and Corporal Pongsathorn Kaewprasert at Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital.

 

On Thursday morning, six attackers riding in the back of the pickup opened fire at the police station when police were standing in line in front of the station to hear a policy address from Rangae police superintendent Colonel Surapong Chatsut. 

 

Corporal Supaksorn Sayukhongthon, 30, was pronounced dead at hospital. 

 

Surapong received a superficial ear wound, while Corporal Pichit Thongros was treated at Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Centre’s hospital.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30310905

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-31

 

[LazySlipper]

I am not a fan of the BIB but this is plain dirty tactics against them. In this case I feel for the deceased the injured and their loved ones. My sympathies and condolences.

Edited March 31, 2017 by LazySlipper

[Enoon]

 

"On Thursday morning, six attackers riding in the back of the pickup opened fire at the police station when police were standing in line in front of the station to hear a policy address from Rangae police superintendent Colonel Surapong Chatsut." 

 

Very well planned and executed.

 

The "security" forces have the same problem that the British had during the Irish War of Independence.  The bureaucracy/mechanism of the state (in the south) is, in intelligence terms, wide open, hence the attackers know precisely when and where to hit.

 

The only way that the state mechanism in the south can harden it's vulnerability is by populating itself with non-Malay Thais, thus further reinforcing the image it already has of an occupying power.

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by Enoon

[williamgeorgeallen]

did the good general decide to use 44 to fix the problem down south? quite an attack considering the country is under military rule.

[sanukjim]

The way that the headlines read is that are recruiting "Three teams of twenty each to attack the police station".Did they get their editors from Khao San Road ?

[TheGhostWithin]

Why are the press, in a country ehich has been criticised for frewdom of the press, posting the full names of servicemen in the news for all to see, putting at risk all men's (especially Sathein's) families?

 

It is a very hard job, many long boring hours knowing that at any time you could become a sitting duck, with help a very long way away.

 

There should be a formal government policy of rewarding these men either in silence out of public view, or post service in the south. Most except for Osaw security and those who have been in the south for generations only do short terms of duty.

 

A true dishonor to the hero's who fell and the hero's who stood over the fallen.

Edited April 1, 2017 by TheGhostWithin

[bkkgriz]

4 hours ago, sanukjim said:

The way that the headlines read is that are recruiting "Three teams of twenty each to attack the police station".Did they get their editors from Khao San Road ?

 

Not only that, but it reads like there were 60 people involved in the attack. Very confusing headline to say the least.

[Srikcir]

On 3/31/2017 at 3:04 PM, webfact said:

Kuakula praised the bravery of Pol Corporal Pulsawat Sathien-udon, who returned fire at the assailants, and said the officer should be promoted.

So if Puksawat just turned and ran away - no promotion then

In the Royal Thai Air Force if a pilot dies from a crash, he gets promoted.

Police seem to have much lower standards for bravery.