Teacher, village head killed in Pattani

Teacher, village head killed in Pattani

A village headman and a teacher were killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani's Muang district on Tuesday evening. (Photo by Abdullah Benjakat)
A village headman and a teacher were killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani's Muang district on Tuesday evening. (Photo by Abdullah Benjakat)

PATTANI — A village headman and a school teacher were shot dead in a drive-by attack in Muang district on Tuesday.

The killing occurred around 5pm on a road in Moo 4 of Ban Baeraw village when Abdulrawhim Duarae, a local teacher, was driving with village chief Sama-ae Musor in a Mercedes-Benz to a restaurant in Pattani’s city centre.

Preliminary investigation indicated that a pickup truck carrying an unknown number of assailants armed AK-47 and M16 assault rifles cut in front of the Mercedes when it entered a curve and sprayed bullets at the windscreen, said Pol Col Montri Kongwatmai, chief of Muang Pattani police station.

The armed men then got out of the pickup and fired more shots at both sides of the vehicle before fleeing. Police found the bullet-ridden bodies of Abdulrawhim and Sama-ae in the car when they arrived. 

Pol Col Montri said police were tracing the weapons used in the attack based on a number of spent AK-47 and M16 cartridge shells collected from the scene to see if the firearms had been involved in any criminal or security case. 

The officer said police could not conclude yet if the attack was related to the southern insurgency because the area also had serious conflicts among local politicians. There have been four other shootings involving village heads and sub-district chiefs in recent months, he noted.

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