Six people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed and another seriously wounded in a gun attack carried out by four armed men on motorcycles in Pattani last night.
Sukumpol: Prisoner release is ‘too much’
The assailants, who were on two motorcycles, sprayed bullets at a grocery shop in tambon Rusamelae in Muang district about 8.10pm.
Bullets hit seven people who were inside and in front of the shop. Six of them died instantly and one was seriously wounded.
Witnesses said after firing into the shop the armed men walked in and shot the victims in the head one by one.
The names of the dead and the injured were not available.
The deadly attack took place just 200 metres from a checkpoint jointly manned by soldiers and defence volunteers.
It comes just days after the authorities led by the National Security Council (NSC) held a second round of talks in Kuala Lumpur with the insurgent groups in the far South, coordinated by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). The NSC agreed to give the BRN until June 13, when the next talks will be held, to prove they can control the rebels.
Meanwhile, a meeting of armed forces leaders has rejected the five demands recently issued by the BRN, a Defence Ministry source said.
The military top brass were invited to the meeting at the Defence Ministry by Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat yesterday. The meeting, also attended by army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, touched on the subject of armed forces collaboration in the far South.
The source said all those who were present at the meeting decided that "not a single demand was acceptable".
Attendants to the meeting said the BRN was trying to raise the profile of the talks, by proposing to bring the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), non-governmental organisations and Asean in as observers or witnesses, and suggesting that Malaysia be a mediator instead of facilitator.
"This is to open a channel for a third country to step right in [to the talks process], which is something we can't accept," said the source, who also attended the meeting.
Emerging from the meeting, ACM Sukumpol said he will inform the prime minister of what the military thinks of the demands. The government will listen to the Defence Ministry on the matter, he added.
Also, the minister dismissed the BRN's demand for the unconditional release of all detained suspects and the suspension and revocation of all arrest warrants concerning national security cases. "A release, I think, is too much to ask," he said.