An empty cooking gas cylinder which police suspect could have been used to make a powerful bomb was found in Narathiwat's Rangae district yesterday.
Bomb disposal experts remove a sack containing an empty cooking gas cylinder from a roadside in Narathiwat’s Rangae district yesterday. WAEDAO HARAI
Rangae district police chief Jiradet Phrasawang said the container was found inside a sack left by the roadside near a waterworks office in tambon Kalisa.
Passers-by initially thought it was an active bomb and alerted the police.
Police cut mobile phone signals in the area and a bomb disposal unit moved in only to find an empty cylinder.
Pol Col Jiradet said the cylinder could contain 5kg of compressed cooking gas. The cylinder was removed from the tall bushes by the roadside and may have been left for insurgents to retrieve, he said.
The insurgents may have planned to use the cylinder to make a bomb for an attack to mark the beginning of the school term this week, he said. Many schools in the far South reopen on Thursday.
Federation of Teachers in the Southern Border Provinces chairman Boon Thongsriplai said attacks in the far South over the past several weeks have harmed local teachers' morale.
He said the federation would meet the Fourth Army commander on May 21 to assess the security situation after schools reopen.
The federation was confident about the authorities' readiness to provide security to teachers, he said.
However, he insisted that security measures _ including teachers' escorts _ must be strengthened. Residents must be allowed to play a part in designing the plan to protect teachers, he said.