[Bangkok Post] Islamic teachers and defecting rebels in the far South are being more closely screened as authorities suspect one of them was involved in the department store bombing that wounded 61 people in Pattani province last week. Jamnan Mueandam, who serves on the government's high-level committee on southern solutions, said the Education Ministry had been instructed to carefully screen Islamic teachers because one of them was suspected of involvement in the car bombing of the Big C mall on May 9. He said, "Islamic teachers have been screened to an extent, but authorities may not know their mindsets. From now on they will be more tightly screened. This must be discussed with representatives of religious schools and provincial Islamic committees."
The committee also ordered the southern outpost of the Internal Security Operations Command to repeatedly interview defecting southern rebels, for the same reason.
Committee member Gen Chamlong Khunsong said a defector was suspected in the car bombing. "The person in question did not attend a full training course, only about half of it. He defected physically, but not spiritually. He did not attend the part concerning attitude adjustment and the creation of understanding," he said.
Gen Chamlong added, "Someone may attend the training wearing a disguise, but we believe that if they listen to the message in the attitudinal part they will understand and change their mindset."
Fourth Army commander Piyawat Nakwanit said 4,488 defectors would be re-examined. He said Suhaiming Sama-ae, who had defected in February, was a suspect in the bombing.