Army chief visits South to follow up security situations

BANGKOK, March 4 (TNA) -- Army commander-in-chief Chalermchai Sittisart visited the South to follow up solutions to violent incidents. He declined to confirm if he had met the prime minister to discuss the matter of Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Gen Chalermchai, in his capacity as the deputy director of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), left the Department of Army Transportation for the 15th Infantry Division in Nong Chik district of Pattani on Saturday. Accompanying him were army chief-of-staff Gen Sasin Thongphakdee who is the ISOC secretary-general, and other high-ranking army officers. The delegation was there to follow up situations in the region and the work of the ISOC’s southern outpost. In the trip, the army chief also laid down his policies to local police, administrative officials and paramilitary rangers. Reporters asked Gen Chalermchai about his meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha at Government House on Friday evening and about progress in legal action on Wat Phra Dhammakaya. Gen Chalermchai declined to answer reporters’ questions and boarded his plane. (TNA)