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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai police arrest two in hotel bombing |
| 2012-04-05 |
| Police have arrested seven suspects thought to be involved in the deadly bomb attacks across southern Thailand on Saturday. In the Hat Yai bomb incident, Narathiwat police said three of the suspects surrendered after a combined military-police team surrounded a house at a village in Rueso district yesterday. A task force had been sent to the house following a tip that suspects might be using it as their hideout. The three - Dulloh Haseng Yamaska, 50, Abdul Asis Hatama, 41, and Adnan Duramae, 31 - emerged from the house after a half-hour of negotiations with the officials. Police said they found a pickup truck belonging to the head nurse of a local hospital in Yala province during a search of the property. The nurse was killed in an Oct 19, 2011 attack. The truck was allegedly stolen by her attackers. The license plate of the pickup truck had been found on a stolen Honda which was used to carry one of the bombs at the Hat Yai hotel. The arrest of the two other suspects in the Hat Yai bomb attack was announced at a separate press conference in Bangkok by national police chief Priewpan Damapong earlier yesterday. Pol Gen Priewpan declined to reveal their identities but said the two were being interrogated. He said, "Preliminary findings from the investigation show there are 20 others who were involved in the attack." Pol Gen Priewpan's disclosure came as military and police officers continued their hunt for suspected bomb plotter Jehma Wani and a suspected bomb maker identified only as Mr Baeyu. Both are suspected of being behind Saturday's car park bombing. Police investigators called Mr Jehma a former Islamic teacher and soldier and a hardcore The car park bomb killed three, injured hundreds more and caused heavy damage to the hotel. The car that supposedly carried 50-60 kilograms of radio-detonated explosives was deliberately parked on the third basement parking floor which is the middle floor of five underground floors of the hotel. The blast was meant to create maximum impact to vehicles parked on other parking floors to trigger chain explosions. Meanwhile, security officials are closing in on some suspects thought to be responsible for the bombings in Pattani and Yala provinces on Saturday. Pol Maj Gen Pichet Pitisetpan yesterday brought to the press a male bombing suspect identified as Samlee Huluduereh, 34. The man was arrested at his wife's house in Pattani province. Security officials confiscated from him a 100-meter length of cable, a set of pliers, nails and a mobile phone. The suspect was identified from recordings of six surveillance cameras, witnesses' accounts and a record of his cell phone use. He is thought to be the man who detonated a bomb-laden motorcycle in front of a food shop in Pattani province on Saturday. The blast injured a senior police officer and damaged property. Mr Samlee denied involvement in the bombing. Investigators questioned a 22-year-old suspect identified as Anuwat Tohjeh about the bombings in Yala province on Saturday. The man had allegedly driven a vehicle following a bomb-laden pickup truck before the first car bomb went off. Police identified the man from recordings of surveillance cameras. He denied any involvement in the blast. On Tuesday, soldiers, police and local administrators searched Ban Pongruerai village in Yala province and found what were believed to be components of improvised explosive devices. |
| Posted by:ryuge |