Police were alerted to the first explosion at 3am yesterday (Apr 15) when a villager identified as Surasak Dibuntham called police reporting that a bomb had gone off by a pond in Moo 8 village in tambon Paen, said Pol Col Chaleomchai Phetkat, superintendent of Sai Buri district police, reports the Bangkok Post.
They found another villager, Nawi Pramon, dead at the scene. He had gone fishing at the pond in the early hours, said Pol Col Chaleomchai. Police collected a flyer containing an illustration of a panther and text in the Malay language reading “Daulat tuanku G5 Askar di-raja Patani”, he said. Daulat tuan ku can be interpreted as “Long live the king” while Askar di-raja Patani translates as “Soldiers of the king of Patani”.
Police are investigating whether the message was left by an armed group called Pulo G5 as implied in the text, said Pol Col Chaleomchai, adding this group has been involved in several bombings in the deep South.
The second blast went off at 7am while a bomb disposal team was working at the scene, injuring three of them, one of whom was severely injured, said a source.
Pulo G5 is a newly formed Pulo group, said the source. The attack was carried out despite the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) agreeing in a recent round of peace talks to avoid causing violence during Ramadan, which runs from Apr 2 to May 1.
However, Pulo, which usually operates under Mara Patani - an umbrella organisation of Malay-Muslim separatist fronts from southern Thailand - was not included in the most recent round of talks. Gen Wallop Raksanoh, former National Security Council secretary-general, led the Thai negotiating team in the talks, which were arranged by a Malaysian facilitator.
Fourth Army Region commander Lt Gen Kriangkrai Srirak said security forces had been expecting an attack by a third party despite the Ramadan agreement. The army will next try to find out whether Pulo wants to engage in new peace talks, he said, adding the government is always ready to talk.
Lt Gen Thira Daewa, commander of the Fourth Region Army Corps, speaking in his capacity as secretary of the peace talks team, said the attacks appeared to be symbolically aimed at demonstrating Pulo’s anger at being excluded from the talks.