Daniel Pedersen

The Courier Mail

September 2004

By Daniel Pedersen

Bangkok

five people, including two policemen, were killed in a bombing and separate shooting attacks early yesterday in the violence-plagued south of Thailand, police said.

A mobile phone-triggered device apparently targeted a unit of four police officers during a security inspection to prepare safe passage for teachers on their way to school, Colonel Term Intarasara of the local police said.

Two police died at the scene, and another was critically injured, while the fourth suffered minor injuries.

The bomb exploded about two kilometres from the school in Sungai Padi district of Narathiwat.

"The police were on foot clearing a path before allowing teachers to go through, and the bomb planted on the roadside exploded," Col. Term said.

Two days earlier two marines were killed by villagers in the Narathiwat district who had blamed them for an earlier shooting.

The execution of the two bound and gagged soldiers marked an ominous escalation in Thailand’s grinding civil conflict.

On Wednesday, Sub-lieutenant Vinai Nabut and Petty Officer Kamthon Thongeiat, were accused by an angry mob of involvement in a teashop shooting in which two people were killed and four wounded.

They were taken hostage and by midday on Thursday the first photos of their mutilated bodies, still hobbled, were widely available.

State forensic chief Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunan said the bodies displayed evidence of torture.

The villagers alleged the soldiers had opened fire on civilians at the teashop under the legal protection of an emergency decree over the area. The villagers’ claims have been met with harried denials among military and government spokesmen.

After the teashop shooting on Tuesday night, women and children encircled the village, saying nothing, but presenting a formidable human barrier to troops.

Their vigil was maintained and the two soldiers rounded up and accused of murder.

The fate of the two marines had hung in the balance as government negotiators and villagers met late into the night.

Eventually, by noon Wednesday, it was announced a deal had been struck and the soldiers would be released. But within 18 hours they were both dead.

Police described the soldiers’ deaths as brutal, involving machetes and sticks.

It is alleged young villagers killed the soldiers as Muslim elders took their midday prayers and the government negotiating team ate lunch.

Negotiators were first alerted to the news when called by a journalist reporting the stand-off.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has sworn to bring the killers of his soldiers to justice.

"I have instructed officials to do what they should do," the Prime Minister said during a press conference late on Thursday.

"Don’t be afraid of anything, otherwise they could die like the two marines. All blame, if any, should come directly to me."

The village in question, Ban Tanyonglimo, is in an area declared by the military as "red".

The military defines areas as green, yellow and red. Red indicates the most danger.

Narathiwat province is Thailand’s southern frontier territory bordering Malaysia.

There are 312 red zone villages, 129 green zones considered peaceful and 133 yellow zones, where everyone is considered a suspect.

The National Reconciliation Council set up by Mr Thaksin as a think-tank to lead state policy has been dealt a thankless task in the southern province.

One council member, Ahmedi-Somboon Bualuang, said this week’s killings were absolute proof that villagers in the south no longer trusted the Thai Government or Mr Thaksin’s rule.

ENDS