Probe into Pattani shooting

Probe into Pattani shooting

The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SPBAC) will probe the shooting in Pattani on Wednesday in which six people were killed, including a boy.

National Security Council secretary-general Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut returns to his office after a meeting on the southern situation with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)

Pol Col Thawee Sodsong, the centre chief, on Thursday assigned the advisory council of the SPBAC to lead the investigation as residents had raised questions about the incident, a source said.

Assailants on two motorcycles sprayed M-16 and HK rifle bullets at a grocery store in Muang district on Wednesday night.

The shooting took place two days after the second round of talks between Thailand led by the National Security Council (NSC) and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional in Kuala Lumpur on April 29.

The tragedy saddened religious leaders and residents in the southern province. Waderamae Mamingji, chairman of the Islamic Council of Pattani joined hands with community leaders and more than 200 people in praying for peace in the South at a mosque in Pattani and urged insurgents to end the violence and stop targeting children, innocent people and the disabled. 

NSC secretary-general Paradorn Pattanatabut said after meeting with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at Government House that radical insurgents were believed to be behind the attack and promised the talks with the separatists would continue.

The prime minister stressed the need to provide career development for residents in the far South and to crack down on illicit drugs and oil and contraband trafficking in connection with the insurgency, Lt Gen Paradon said.

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