Prawit again denies BRN involvement in bombing

Prawit again denies BRN involvement in bombing

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who is also defence minister in charge of national security, denied on Aug 13 that the Aug 11-12 bomb attacks were by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) - and he repeated that strongly again on Tuesday. (Post Today photo)
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who is also defence minister in charge of national security, denied on Aug 13 that the Aug 11-12 bomb attacks were by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) - and he repeated that strongly again on Tuesday. (Post Today photo)

The government announced it will once again try to open peace talks with separatists in the deep South, triggering yet another denial from the minister in charge of security that the insurgents were responsible for the Mother's Day bombings.

The bomb and arson attacks in seven provinces on Aug 11 and 12 were not the work of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon insisted again on Tuesday.

He said the same thing the day after the bombings of Hua Hin town, Phuket and five other provinces on the long weekend marking the royal birthday and national Mother's Day.

Gen Prawit said the government team leading the peace talks with the Mara Patani umbrella insurgent group, which includes the BRN, had told him the insurgent group was not behind the Aug 10-12 attacks.

He cited no other evidence.

Police said on Monday they know southern militants were responsible for the bombing and are seeking specific search warrants.

Gen Prawit, however, said police needed more time before they could say who did it. A surveillance camera captured an image of some of the attackers who appeared to be young.

The attacks took place in the central province of Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district and the southern provinces of Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phangnga, Phuket, Surat Thani and Trang. His remarks came after police refused to rule out the possibility that the influential Wadah political group and separatist elements of the BRN and Patani Liberation Organisation group were responsible.

The government has sold its tenuous contacts with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and the self-styled the Mara Patani group as a peace process. No formal meeting has taken place, and the pro-separatist group has made no public statement.

The government is expected to send its official peace talks team to resume peace talks with the groups on Sept 2 - Friday of next week.

Asked to confirm if the government now planned to resume talks with Mara Patani, the umbrella body representing separatist movements in the deep South, Gen Prayut simply said he and officials were working on a tentative schedule.

Gen Prayut added he didn't want to pay much attention to that, as only mutual sincerity would result in progress. No side should exploit the violent situation to rush the peace talks to make the other side accept proposals that will only lead to new problems, he said.

"Once again, these are peace talks, not negotiations. A negotiation normally involves fights, while this [the southern unrest] deals with manslaughter cases claimed to be the work of this or that group."

The peace talks consist of two parts: A, formal peace talks, and B, talks with groups which disagree on Part A, said Gen Prayut. The peace talks weren't activities directly between the government and the insurgent groups but the Thai peace talks team and the insurgents. He added Mara Patani was in Part B. Gen Prayut said he didn't want the talks split into too many groups, so he had asked them to find ways to merge into one before talks resume.

Also on Tuesday, the Military Court at the 41st Army Circle rejected a request by the police team investigating the attacks for an arrest warrant for a 32-year-old Chiang Mai man suspected of being involved in an arson attack in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The court dismissed the request lodged by deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, who leads the team, arguing the suspect, Sakarin Karuehas, poses no flight risk, said Pol Gen Srivara.

Pol Gen Srivara conceded police were now focusing more on new suspects in the Nakhon Si Thammarat arson case. Police are seeking warrants for their arrest.

Pol Col Srivara said witnesses heard one suspected attacker speak a "foreign" language although police thought the attacker might have faked this to mislead investigators.

Investigators had found no link to members of the communist-era "Revolutionary Front for Democracy Party", detained recently, and the attacks, he said.

Gen Prayut said money left over after compensating victims of the Erawan shrine blasts on Aug 17 last year will be spent on paying victims of the latest attacks.

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