Bomb blitz kills three despite peace move

Bomb blitz kills three despite peace move

Forensic science police are examining the debris of the motorcycle bomb in Rangae district, Narathiwat, Friday morning. (Photo by Waedao Harai)
Forensic science police are examining the debris of the motorcycle bomb in Rangae district, Narathiwat, Friday morning. (Photo by Waedao Harai)

Two civilians and a soldier were killed and three other people injured in a series of bomb attacks in Narathiwat on Thursday evening. 

Authorities on Thursday announced the parole of convicted killer Da-oh Thanam, a former leader of the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo). Da-oh's brother Sama-ae was paroled from prison in July. Both had been behind bars for 17 years.

Thursday evening's explosions occurred in eight locations in Rangae district, between about 7pm and 9.15pm.

The municipal market, Wat Sanghasittharam, Rangae post office and a karaoke bar were among the targets, security officials said. One villager and one soldier died at the scene. Another resident succumbed to injuries later on Thursday night. Ten other soldiers and civilians were injured but safe.

Police said the first bomb in the series was meant to attract attention. The second was meant to kill and the blast hit soldiers and villagers walking towards the scene of the first explosion near Wat Sanghasittharam.

A steel box containing explosives, weighing 10-15 kilogrammes, was placed in the crash helmet compartment of a parked black Honda Wave motorcycle. The bomb was detonated remotely near a grocery store on Phraya Rangae Soi 3 Road.

The motorcycle was registered in Narathiwat and earlier stolen from a 17-year-old female student of the Narathiwat Technical College who was shot dead in Rangae district on Sept 14.

Nearby roads were sealed off as security forces examine the blast scenes. Insurgents were believed to be behind the attacks. The other bombs were intended only to shock people, police said.

The release of convicted terrorist Da-oh was announced by Withaya Suriyawong, director-general of the Department of Corrections, who said he would be freed on Sept 21.

It was planned to coincide with next week's Eid al-Adha Muslim festival, the feast of sacrifice, he said.

The parole of the two brothers was intended as expression of the government’s sincere intention to solve and end southern unrest, said Mr Withaya.

Da-oh has been in prison for past 17 years after he, his brother and three others were indicted in 1998 on rebellion and separatism charges. The lower court in 2002 sentenced him to death but commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

The Appeal Court in 2005 and the Supreme Court in 2011 upheld the ruling.

A source in a security agency in the far South said the early release of both Sama-ae and Da-oh, as well as that of Buedo Betong, a former chairman of the Pulo previously freed from jail under a similar arrangement, was designed to help the talks.

The government could make use of their stature as former insurgent leaders in the peace talks under way with insurgents in Malaysia.

Even though these former Pulo leaders had been in jail a long time, other members of the movement still had a great deal of faith in them and no one else had been appointed to replace them while they were in jail, said the source.

Da-oh, in particular, was believed to have the ability to initiate talks with Padoheng Dereng, his brother-in-law who leads the new Pulo force, said the source.

Da-oh might also approach key figures in other insurgent groups including Lukman bin Lima, a leader of the Pulo guerrillas; Rusran Yamuraenae, head of the Pulo’s fighters and trainer of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil insurgent group; and Abdulroman Mato Maelo, head of the Gorakan Mujahideen Islam Patani, the source said.

Rescue workers aid a bombing victim at Rangae Hospital in Narathiwat Thursday evening. (Photo by Waedao Harai)

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