Yala's deputy gov slain

Officials inspect the severely damaged car targeted in a roadside bomb attack in Yala yesterday that killed two senior officials.

Roadside bomb claims Issara, provincial defence official, injures driver

A bomb attack in Yala yesterday killed two senior civilian officials travelling in a passenger sedan, with one of them dying instantly at the scene and a deputy provincial governor later pronounced dead at a hospital. The driver survived but was seriously injured.

National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanathabutr said the attack should not be taken as an indication that an ongoing peace dialogue with insurgents' representatives was a failure.

"Such incidents are customary during a peace process [with an armed resistance group], and this attack is not deemed a shift in insurgent violence, as government officials are always the prime targets," he said.

The attack might have been carried out by members of insurgent groups opposed to the peace dialogue who wanted to make their intent known, Paradorn said.

Yala deputy governor Issara Thongthawat was travelling with provincial civil-defence chief Chaowalit Chai-ruerk and the driver in a Toyota Camry, which was escorted by a military vehicle. The explosion blew the sedan into the air and sent it tumbling for 50 metres from the blast site, according to a witness.

Yala Governor Dejrat Simsiri said he was looking into the possibility that the attack was an inside job, given that the bomb precisely targeted the sedan.

The bomb, an improvised device consisting of 20 kilograms of home-made explosives, was hidden in an underground sewer on a section of Route 410 in Bannang Sata district. The blast, which blew a crater 2 metres wide and a metre deep in the road, was detonated by a battery through a 100-metre-long electrical wire connected to a roadside bomb, said police ordnance personnel.

The body of Chaowalit was thrown out of the sedan, while the two other passengers were trapped inside after the vehicle came to a rest, right side up. Driver Stopa Jehloh remains in critical condition after receiving intensive emergency care.

Security officials said much-wanted insurgent leader Makata Alimamah was possibly behind this bomb attack.

Issara was on his way to preside over an event at a remote location in the province when the blast occurred. Dejrat said he was originally scheduled to preside over the event, but had assigned Issara to stand in for him.

The attack in Yala is the latest in a series of violent acts in the South, where the unrest has continued unabated despite an ongoing peace dialogue inaugurated by agreement between Thai security officials and insurgents' representatives on February 28. The first round of talks commenced one month later.

Although there have been fewer attacks on civilians and fewer vehicle-bomb attacks in residential areas - preconditions the insurgents were asked to meet - the continued frequent violence means that no overall improvement has yet been seen in the region. Hopes of an improvement had been raised when the Barasi Revolusi Nasional Coordinate (BRN) members present at the March 28 meeting promised to persuade active operatives to reduce their attacks on so-called "soft targets", analysts said.

Paradorn said he told Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that the attack in Yala was a ploy to intimidate local residents in the deep South to keep supporting insurgents' cause.

Chaowalit's funeral will be held at Wat Muang Yala starting with today's scheduled bathing rite. A date for the service for Issara will be set soon. It is expected to be held in either Yala or in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Issara's home province.

Issara, 56, served in civilian administration after graduating with bachelor's degrees in geology and law from Chiang Mai and Ramkhamhaeng universities in 1989. He initially served with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and later with the Local Administrative Department under the Interior Ministry in 1993.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/04/06/yalas-deputy-gov-slain/