PRIME Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said this afternoon (March 11) attacks in the Far-South occurring since last Saturday with another one taking place this morning are not linked to her father/de factor Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra’s visit there last month, Amarin TV and Naewna newspaper said.
Asked by reporters whether these attacks were linked to Thaksin’s visit to the three Far-South provinces – Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani – as adviser to Asean chair Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Feb. 23, Paetongtarn shouted: “It probably isn’t related.”
During the trip Thaksin, who was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister/Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Justice Minister Thavi Sodsong, apologised for the Tak Bai incident.
Two decades ago on Oct. 25, 2004 altogether 85 Thai citizens died in the Tak Bai massacre or Tak Bai incident amid insurgency in the Far-South.
Asked about Phumtham having said that Thaksin is the mechanism for advising the Prime Minister, she asked them, “Did Mr. Thaksin talk to Mr. Phumtham?”
When told this is due to Thaksin having visited the Far-South last month, she replied: “I haven’t talked to him yet.”
Meanwhile insurgents in the Far-South launched another attack at 10.30 a.m. this morning by ambushing soldiers in front of a base in Bannang Sata district, Yala province, seriously injuring an officer.
Lt. Phuwiwat (surname withheld), 41, commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment’s 2nd Infantry Company, was shot at the left side of his chest and was initially taken to Bannang Sata Hospital then transferred to Yala Hospital.
The team of soldiers were in front of this regiment’s Jathe base of operations when ambushed.
This followed an attack at 2 a.m. yesterday in which a Volunteer Defence Force officer was shot dead by insurgents in Yala with three suspicious objects later found at and near a bridge there.
In the two attacks on Saturday night, the first took place at around 7 p.m. when assailants opened fire, threw explosives and detonated bombs outside the district office of Sungai Kolok, a town on the Malaysia-Thailand border in Narathiwat, killing two defence volunteers guarding the office and wounded 12 others.
Later at 11 p.m. a roadside bomb killed three people, including two local village assistants and a ranger guarding the area, and wounding one other person in neighbouring Pattani province.
CAPTION:
Prime Minster Paetongtaarn Shinawatra and her father/de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra. Top photo: Amarin TV, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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