Far South violence continues, but reduced

Municipal compound attacked in Pattani A fire engine, a garbage truck and at rescue pickup were damaged by the blaze at the Pho Ming municipal office in Panare district, Pattani, late Sunday night. (Photos: Internal Security Operations Command) Dissidents struck again in the southern border province of Pattani late Sunday night, bombing and burning a municipal office, in the wake of a storm of violence in the far South on Saturday night. The latest attack occurred at the Pho Ming municipal office in tambon Pho Ming of Panare district about 9.10pm on Sunday. The security guard's booth was bombed and the office garage set ablaze - seriously damaging a garbage truck, a rescue pickup truck and a fire engine. There were no casualties. The incident followed about 50 seemingly coordinated bomb and arson attacks in the southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala on Saturday night, when two women were injured. In Bangkok, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said officials had yet to determine the motive behind the upsurge in the violence. Mr Sihasek supervises security solutions for the region. He said it was not known who actually orchestrated the violence, and admitted he was concerned about frequency of the attacks at this time. There were many possible factors that officials would discuss. There had been advance intelligence pointing to planned coordinated violence, and security authorities should have made quicker preparations to cope with it, Mr Sihasak said. Thanut Suvarnananda, director of the National Intelligence Agency, said attackers might be trying to increase their negotiating power, with peace restoration talks for the far South likely to resume in late October. It was also symbolic, given that many targets were government offices and property. Dissidents might also want to use up the ammunition and explosives they had stored, fearing it could be damaged and deteriorate during the wet season, Mr Thanut said. The government’s suppression of illicit goods might also prompt such attacks. Authorities had recently seized a lot of drugs in the region, he said. Mr Thanut said intelligence officials did, of course, know who were behind the attacks but they could not reveal names. Fire glows in the garage behind the Pho Ming municipal office. The security booth of the municipal office heavily damaged by the bomb.