Govt extends emergency rule

SOUTHERN VIOLENCE

The cabinet has decided to extend the state of emergency in the troubled deep south for three more months. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the extension was based on findings that emergency rule had been efficient in quelling violence in the three southernmost provinces.

The decree, which was first imposed in 2005 by the Thaksin Shinawatra administration, would last until July 19.

In Narathiwat yesterday, explosives and weapons were seized from two makeshift shelters for insurgents in an arrowroot plantation.

Also found were details of a rebel plot to attack a military outpost in Rangae district of the province over the next few day.

Acting on a tip-off, a combined team of 50 police, soldiers and officials yesterday went to an arrowroot plantation in tambon Bo-ngo in Rangae district where they found two makeshift shelters.

The searches found four bombs, many rounds of AK and 11mm ammunition, two magazines of AK ammunition, communication radios, many sets of dried batteries, dynamite, camouflage uniforms, medical supplies, a car licence plate, documents in the Yawi dialect and other items used for bomb-making.

Security officers also found a key piece of evidence about a plan to attack a military outpost in Rangae district in the next two to three days.

The evidence included a map of the military outpost and a list of insurgents who had been assigned to carry out the attack.

Nobody was in the shelters when the officers arrived.

According to an initial investigation, the insurgents were the same group responsible for a car bomb attack on a bomb disposal unit in tambon Tanyongmas in Rangae district on Jan 2 this year and a gun attack on a border patrol police checkpoint in the same district on Jan 25.

Meanwhile, the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) will provide peace-building training for southern youths next month to keep them away from insurgents.

SBPAC director Pranai Suwannarat said youths who were at risk of being lured into joining the insurgency would be recruited to undergo peace-building training in Songkhla.