Villagers in Thai Northeast assaulted by gunmen

LOEI, THAILAND, May 16 (TNA) - Several villagers have been assaulted by more than 400 men, many of them were armed, after the villagers tried to prevent illegal transportation of copper from a mine in a village of Loei Province in the Thai Northeast. Surapan Rujichaivat, a leader of the villagers who had tried to prevent the illegal copper transportation from their village, told reporters that the incident occurred before dawn on Friday in Baan Na Nong Bong of Loei's Wang Saphung District. Surapan said the incident took place after a group of men dressed in black and wore hood travelled in four ten-wheeled trucks and two vans and then threatened the villagers, demanding them to open a road the villagers had blocked so that the men could sell copper to influential local politicians. But Surapan revealed that the villagers resisted and they were assaulted, adding that he, himself, was taken to negotiate with unidentified soldiers who demanded the villagers to cease their activities. Another guard villager, identified as Yon Kunna, claimed that he was blindfolded and later assaulted by about 100 men, before he was released at about 5am and did not know who the attackers were. Wang Saphung district chief and police officers later inspected the scene and found many spent shells in the area. The local police are tracking down those unidentified attackers. (TNA)