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The Star Online > News > Latest
Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Soldier gunned down in south Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Suspected Islamic rebels shot and killed a soldier as he drove his daughter to school Monday in the latest bloodshed in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.

Sgt. Praphan Nothong, 43, was shot three times while driving his motorcycle in Pattani province's Kok Pho district, said police Sub. Lt. Monrat Silarak.

The motorbike crashed, but Praphan's daughter was unhurt.

Earlier Monday, police gunned down a suspected Islamic insurgent - Mukata Puleng, 25 - and seized six assault rifles, two magazines of ammunition, and six bombs from a pickup truck he was riding in in Pattani's Panareh district, said police Maj. Col. Worawut Kittisakronnakorn.

Security officials had received a tip about people transporting weapons, he said. They followed the pickup after it failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Mukata was killed after he and another man in the truck briefly exchanged gunfire with security forces.

The man fled the scene at about 1 a.m. (1800 GMT Sunday), Worawut said.

Mukata was wanted by police in connection with the killing of a village headman in Janae district of Narathiwat province in 2003.

Nrathiwat, Pattani and Yala are the only predominantly Muslim provinces in this largely Buddhist kingdom.

The area has been beset by violence, with more than 540 people slain in attacks - mainly drive-by shootings - since January.

The bloodshed has been blamed on a Muslim separatist movement, which waged a low-key battle in the area for decades before dissipating in the 1980s. Southern Thai Muslims say they face discrimination, mainly in jobs and education.

Tensions in the region were raised when at least 85 Muslims died at the hands of security forces on Oct. 25 after a riot was broken up. Most of the victims suffocated or were crushed after being bound and stacked in army trucks.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is attending the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in neighboring Laos, has threatened to walk out of the summit if delegates raise the issue of Muslim unrest in Thailand.

Thaksin said it is a domestic matter only. - AP


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