A local official was killed and a village headman wounded in separate shootings in Pattani’s Muang and Yarang districts on Tuesday morning, police said.
Pol Lt Col Thavorn Chaiprasit of Muang Pattani police station said Hama Jeh-nawae, 43, an official of tambon Khlong Maning Administration Organisation was shot and killed in his retail shop about 2am.
According to witnesses, Hama was sitting in front of his shop in Ban Samala in tambon Khlong Maning when a man walked in asking to buy a pack of ice. While he was turning to get the ice for the customer, another man standing in front of the house fired at him with an AK47 assault rifle.
Hama was hit twice at the back and fell to the ground. The gunman approached him and fired another two shots into his chest at close range. The attackers then fled.
The victim died on the spot.
Police believed a personal conflict was the motive for Pama’s murder.
In Yarang district, Pol Col Wasant Puangnoi, chief of Yarang police station, received a report that a village chief was shot and injured in an ambush at Ban Wat in tambon Wat early this morning.
He was identified as Saree Maming, 53, chief of Rawaeng village.
Witnesses told police that Saree was traveling on a motorcycle along a rural road heading to his rubber plantation when a gunman hiding in roadside forest fired on him with handgun.
Saree was shot once in his arm and admitted to Yarang hospital.
Police were investigating.