Monk and boy killed in South Skip to main content

Monk and boy killed in South

Gunmen open fire on crowd giving alms in Pattani; four dead

FOUR PEOPLE - including a Buddhist monk and a nine-year-old boy and his mother - were killed and six others injured in a drive-by shooting in Pattani's Mae Lan district in a further escalation of violence in the restive deep South.

A police officer assigned to protect monks is among the injured.

The daring attack occurred at 6.30am yesterday in tambon Mae Lan, when six camouflage-clothed assailants on three motorcycles opened fire on locals waiting at a roadside pavilion to give alms to Phra Sukijto, 67, of Wat Pa Suay.

Monk-protection police returned fire, forcing the assailants to flee.

The monk and nine-year-old merit-maker Thitiwat Khunkliang died instantly, while the boy's mother Somjai Khunkliang and another woman, Jamnian Phuttarit, were pronounced dead at Mae Lan Hospital.

Somjai was the wife of Pol Lieutenant Waiphot Khunkliang, of Kapor police station in Pattani.

The six injured - Lance-Corporal Udomchai Phewpong, 22, Chinnakrit Phrommanee, 13, Chai Thongreung, 75, Klao Laksap, 55, Paripat Kulnarong, 23, and Rampan Aksornkaew, 57 - were later transferred to Pattani Hospital.

The attack on the eve of Makha Bucha Day prompted the Pattani Buddhism Office to urge all local temples to suspend monk alms-taking activity for now as a precaution.

Mae Lan chief Suwan Phuwipirom said the attack occurred in an area that had previously been spared any of the violence and as such the morale of locals had been affected.

Suwan said Muslims and Buddhists lived in harmony there and it was among the first areas to have the state of emergency lifted.
He said the assailants seemed to want to cause disunity among people, just like in the February 3, 2011, drive-by attack that killed five Buddhists shopping for alms offers.

"I believe the assailants came from outside the area and aimed to cause Buddhist-Muslim conflicts," he said.

"We must watch out because this past month has seen many such incidents."

Suwan said he would talk to officials about beefing up security.

Relevant agencies held a meeting yesterday to discuss the unrest including last week's shooting deaths of three young Muslim brothers in Bacho, Narathiwat, that prompted insurgents to retaliate.

Aziz Benhawan, chairman of the Advisory Council for Peace Building in the Southern Border Provinces, said the council had set up a working team to investigate the Bacho attack.

Aziz said another team would be established to investigate the Mae Lan attack.

He condemned those behind the attacks, the unrest in general and societal disunity.

Boonsom Thongsriprai, chairman of the Confederation of Teachers of the Three Southern Border Provinces, urged state and national security agencies to review security measures.

Boonsom said the deaths of the three Muslim brothers were being used to instigate more attacks that claimed innocent lives.

He urged the authorities to provide clarity about the three brothers' case given the rumours that state offices carried out the attack.

Prasit Meksuwan, president of the Civil Society Council of the Southern Border Provinces, said insurgents might be applying a 2004 strategy - carrying out attacks while spreading rumours to discredit the state.

He said a credible source stated that the separatist movement, especially some factions in the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, had tried to spread the rumour that peace talks had ended because the government turned down the BRN's five-point demand.

This could have led insurgents to resume the old strategy of mounting attacks and spreading rumour to get the state's attention, he said.
==========
http://www.nationmultimedia.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...

Three Dead, Seven Injured by Artillery Shells in Two Incidents in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...