[Bangkok Post] Members of a new generation of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent movement stole seven vehicles in Pattani and Songkhla provinces to use in bomb attacks in what official called an "unexpected" new attack tactic in southern Thailand.
Army chief Chalermchai Sitthisad said the group found responsible for Wednesday's car robberies in which one civilian and one militant were killed is a BRN group controlled by Dulloh Waemano.
New members who do not have criminal records were being trained to replace their predecessors who have either been nabbed or gone into hiding after authorities obtained information linking them to past attacks. These young and new members of the BRN have joined the group because they are hired, not because they agree with the group's ideology, Gen Chalermchai said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon confirmed the BRN was behind the incidents, saying at least four out of about seven suspects involved have been clearly identified by authorities.
The the showroom thefts were carried out in Songkhla instead because tight security has been maintained in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, he said, referring to the robbery of the six pickup trucks at a used car shop.
However, the robberies started in Pattani where BRN militants stole a pickup truck from a couple in Pattani's Yarang district. The stolen truck was then used by about ten people -- dressed in outfits looking similar to those of security authorities -- to travel to the used car shop in Songkhla where they stole six trucks and abducted four people including the shop owner,
The four held hostage by the car robbers were identified as Saharat Laeni, Prathanphon Nuanlamun, Thanisak Yichin, and Wirasak Rattanaphan. Thanisak, who owns the used car shop, said he and Wirasak had ran away from the gunmen while they were trying to kill the other two hostages. Saharat died but Prathanphon survived because he pretended to be dead when shot by a gunman at a rubber plantation in Thepha district. The gunmen apparently intended to kill all four hostages.
After the robbery, authorities were sent to hunt down the group. A suspect later identified as Nur-arsan Arwae, a resident of Pattani's Muang district, was killed in a gun battle with authorities after he refused to stop one of the stolen cars at a security checkpoint in Pattani's Nong Chik district.
The dead suspect was found to be a student at a privately-run Muslim religious school in Pattani's Muang district. Security authorities plan to invite the director of the school in for questioning.
All other stolen trucks were located and seized back in 19 hours. One of them was fitted with a bomb and blew up on Wednesday night in Pattani's Nong Chik district. No one was hurt. Another one was dropped in front of a police flat at Mayo police station in Pattani early Thursday, about a minute before the vehicle blew up, damaging nearby buildings. A few officers who were approaching to inspect the vehicle were slightly injured.
Deputy Defense Minister Gen Udomdej Sitabutr described the attack plot as outrageous as the suspects had apparently aimed to use those stolen cars in bombing attacks. He said, "The authorities have tried every way to prevent attacks in the southern border provinces. But if these suspects aren't arrested, they will possibly next target Songkhla. And I believe there are more major violent plots to come."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
