Five police officers slain by gunmen in Pattani
Published: 11 Sep 2013 at 15.37
Five policemen investigating oil smuggling were shot dead in Pattani on Wednesday, but the government insisted that ongoing attacks would not derail fragile peace efforts in the South.
Rescue workers care for the body of one of the five police officers murdered in Thung Yang Daeng district of Pattani province on Wednesday. (EPA photo)
The attack came a day after two soldiers were killed, and two others and a student wounded, by a bomb explosion in the grounds of Kanarasdorn Bumroong 2 School in Yala's Muang district. The attack was blamed on a splinter group of the Barison Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement intent on disrupting the peace talks.
Wednesday's attack was carried out by five or six gunmen travelling on a pick-up truck which swerved in front of a police vehicle carrying the five plainclothes policemen, forcing it to stop, Pol Col Kowit Rattanachot, chief of the district police station, said.
The gunmen opened fire and all five police officers were killed on the spot, he said.
The dead officers were identified as Pol Maj Col Santhchai Sarttrapradit, Pol Lt Anavil Arkhunchada, Pol Sen Sgt Maj Masuding Meesa, Pol Sgt Maj Maroning Yuso and Pol Sgt Maj Sompote Somprasong. The attack occurred at about 10.20am.
The slain policemen were working with a unit tasked with cracking down on oil smuggling in the southern border provinces, Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command's Southern Forward Command, said.
Col Pramote said the fatal ambush underlined suspicions of a link between insurgents in the southern region and illicit business activities, including smuggling of untaxed fuel and other contraband.
"These people are a national threat," he said.
The continuing attacks fly in the face of several rounds of peace talks, facilitated by Malaysia, between Thai authorities and the BRN.
National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattatanabut said talks would continue, despite the latest attacks.
"The more they kill, the more we need to have the meetings, so we can find out why and who committed these acts," Lt Gen Paradorn told AFP.
"The talks must continue," he added, echoing comments on Tuesday in which he said a new round of peace talks discussions were expected to begin in October.
