Thai authorities kill 3 insurgent suspects in Deep South after days-long standoff

Thai security forces killed three suspected insurgents in a shootout on Thursday, ending a six-day standoff in the southern province of Pattani, officials said.

The incident occurred at a rubber plantation in Khok Pho district where authorities said more suspects could be hiding. A member of the security forces died earlier in the standoff, which began on July 27. 

Security personnel, who had received information that the suspected insurgents were hiding in a forest near the plantation, went to arrest the trio who had outstanding warrants for insurgent activities, said Col. Ekwarit Chobchuphon, spokesman for ISOC-4, the regional office of the Internal Security Operations Command.

“We made efforts to negotiate, inviting religious leaders, local leaders, and officials to persuade the suspects to surrender to avoid losses on both sides, but to no avail,” Ekwarit said.

“Over several days, authorities maintained a cordon around the area and tightened the perimeter of the surrounding forest. There were intermittent clashes.”

The suspects were killed Thursday during a gunfight with security forces who were using a bulldozer to clear the trees.

Those killed were identified as Robi, Ismaae, and Tuan-adel, but authorities withheld their last names. Their bodies were taken to Khok Pho Hospital for autopsies and identification before being released to relatives for religious ceremonies.

Four firearms – two M16 rifles and two handguns – were recovered.

Thai PM to visit Malay border Saturday

The two sides had clashed on the first day of the standoff as well, when three officers were injured by an explosion. Master Sgt. Thanasak Buakhao later died from his injuries.

Lt. Thawatchai Suwannarat from Control Unit 4, was shot in the left leg, and Volunteer Ranger Natthaphon Chaiwan, from the 41st Ranger Regiment, suffered shrapnel wounds to his right shoulder. Both are recovering and receiving treatment at Hat Yai University Hospital, according to authorities.

Police Lt. Gen. Piyawat Chalermsi, commander of Provincial Police Region 9, said the three suspects had belonged to a local insurgent group.

“This group is responsible for carrying out many incidents in the area,”  he told reporters.

“We continue to instruct operation units to inspect the area cautiously, as we believe there are likely several more criminals trying to hide and find an opportunity to escape,” Piyawat said.

This latest incident came even as Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is scheduled to visit the Thai-Malaysian border on Saturday where he is expected to discuss the southern conflict with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

 Separatist rebels operate in the southernmost provinces of Buddhist-majority Thailand where the population is mainly Malay Muslim. 

There have been over 22,200 violent incidents in the border region since 2004, resulting in more than 7,540 deaths and 14,000 injuries, according to the Deep South Watch, a local think-tank.

The Thai government has spent about 500 billion baht (U.S. $14 billion) addressing issues in the southern border provinces over the past two decades. Peace talks between the Thai government and various separatist groups have been ongoing since 2013.

‘No safe political space’

Meanwhile, violence continues in the Deep South, which encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala provinces, and four districts of Songkhla province.

On Sunday, gunmen shot and killed a 47-year-old man in Panare district, Pattani, before setting his car on fire.

Last week, four bombs exploded over three days in Pattani and Sonkhla, injuring 11 officers.

An explosion on a vehicle from Ban Sorong police station in Pattani on July 24 injured an officer and damaged a car.

A day earlier, two explosions took place in Songkhla Thepha district. One was an improvised explosive device that targeted a police patrol car from Thepha Police Station, which injured four officers.

Later that day, July 23, as police officers inspected the scene of the morning explosion, another blast occurred nearby, although this time there were no casualties.

On the morning of July 22 a bomb attack on a police vehicle in Pattani’s Nong Chik district injured six officers who were all taken to Pattani Hospital for treatment.

On June 30, a car bomb exploded at a police residential complex in Bannang Sata district, Yala province, killing one person and injuring 34 others.

Anwar Koma, a political science lecturer from the Prince of Songkla University’s Pattani campus, said these recent incidents demonstrate that the Deep South’s people are lacking a means to express their political and social frustrations, which is why they are turning to violence.

“Basically, the reason why it happened was because there was no safe political space,” Anwar told BenarNews last week on Wednesday.

Pol. Col. Charuwit Wongchaikittiporn, deputy director of the Office of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, ISOC-4, told reports last week that the unrest was par for the course.

 “It is a game or a strategy of fighting, targeting state officials,” he said.