Four villagers were killed and four others wounded when gunmen attacked a pickup truck in Pattani province on Sunday night.The police chief of Nong Chik district, Pol Col Chonvee Chamarerk, said the attack on the pickup occured about 10 p.m. after an M79 grenade was fired at the operational base of a ranger unit. The grenade blast slightly injured a ranger.
The rangers at the base contacted patrol units to set up checkpoints on Highway 418 to check vehicles traveling on the road. At Ban Kayi, about 2 km from the base, an pickup truck heading against the flow of traffic was attacked by an unidentified group of armed men and an exchange of gunfire followed.
Four people in the pickup were killed and four others injured. A team of police and defense volunteers which examined the scene found 26 spent AK47 shells and 30 spent M16 shells on the road. An AK47 rifle was found in the pickup.
Ya Dueramae, the driver of the pickup, told police he was taking nine passengers to the funeral of a former village chief. At Ban Kayi, they saw a number of defense volunteers. At that moment the pickup came under attack from many directions, killing and injuring the villagers. The vehicle was full of bullet holes.
Mr Luechai, the district chief, said he has ordered district officials to arrange a funeral for the victims and told relatives that the police would investigate the incident and make sure there would be justice.
Former defense minister Yutthasak said initial investigations did not support the claim they were innocent villagers. He said that according to a report he received a pickup truck and a motorcycle were involved in the attack on the ranger base. The motorcycle from which the grenade was fired managed to escape, but the pickup slid off the road while fleeing and came under fire.
Gen Yutthasak said that anumber of weapons were found in the pickup. He said the pickup driver's account to police that the people in the vehicle were on their way to a funeral might not be true. People going to prayers did not need to carry weapons. It appeared they were fleeing after the M79 attack.
He said, "Authorities are sceptical that those in the pickup truck were ordinary villagers."
| See also: Innocence of shooting victims doubted |