Rubber tapper beheaded as 3 die in Yala attacks

SOUTHERN VIOLENCE 'PATTANI WARRIORS' WARN BUDDHISTS

Rubber tapper beheaded as 3 die in Yala attacks.

Three people were killed, one of them beheaded, in attacks in Yala yesterday. The head of a man identified later as 38-year-old rubber tapper Pin Khotchathin was found at a rubber plantation in tambon Tasae in Yala's Muang district yesterday. Pin's body was spotted five metres from his head.

The body of his wife Ruangrong Kaewkrai, 38, was discovered nearby. She was shot in the head. A handwritten note was left near Pin's head warning of further bloodshed to avenge what the attackers, calling themselves ''Pattani Warriors,'' claimed was a case of authorities killing separatist members.

In the note, the attackers also threatened to kill Buddhists if they refused to leave the province, which they insist is part of their Islamic Pattani State.

Police say the couple were ambushed while on their way to work in a plantation around 6.45am. After the shooting, the assailants cut off Pin's head with a knife.

An elderly man was also killed in a drive-by shooting in the same province.

Jit Rangsikosai, 76, was gunned down on Ban Niang-Lammai road in Muang district as he was leaving a tea shop.

Three soldiers were injured after a bomb exploded near the Humvee armoured vehicle they drove on a routine patrol in Kra Phor district of Pattani yesterday.

Bangkok Post
Monday January 15, 2007