Violence continues in Thai South

BANGKOK, February 29 (TNA) - Security authorities exchanged gunfire with suspected insurgents in Thailand's deep South Tuesday, killing one armed suspect and arrested another in Yala province; while a bomb blast in nearby Narathiwat province injured three soldiers. Thai soldiers and administrative officials clashed with the suspected insurgents in Moo 3 village of the Jakwa locality in Yala's Raman district this early morning, during which a suspected insurgent, identified as Sayutee Samae who was wanted with an arrest warrant for security offences, was killed with a pistol found beside him. The clash happened while the local security authorities were laying siege to the village following reports that an armed group was hiding there. About five suspected insurgents first opened fire at the authorities and both sides then exchanged gunfire, after which the authorities also arrested another suspected insurgent, identified as Tameesee Baka, who hid in a house toilet. The arrested man insisted that he was innocent but he was hiding out of fear. The authorities, however, found a bullet-proof vest in the house. The security authorities said they believed that the armed men were affiliated with the group of Rohing Da-iso, also known as Ustaz Rohing Azong, a key insurgent in Thailand's troubled southernmost region. In Narathiwat, a bomb exploded and injured three Thai soldiers on a bridge in Ban Hutae Yuero village of Bacho district with a damaged six-wheeled truck and a pit measured up to one meter wide and one meter deep. The bomb was contained in a fire extinguisher detonated with a battery. Local authorities found detonator wires stretching from the bomb site to a roadside palm plantation and an official investigation is continuing. (TNA)