Imam Killed, Rangers Injured In Violence In Thailand's Pattani

By Minggu Simon Lhasa PATTANI (Thailand), Sept 7 (Bernama) -- An imam of a mosque was shot dead on Saturday while four Thai rangers were seriously injured in a bomb blast, in continued violence in Southern Thailand. Kapor district police chief, Pol. Col. Kampol Pollapakdee said the four rangers were hurt on the body and head in an explosion of a homemade bomb weighing 100 kilogrammes at Kapor-Saiburi road in Kampong Teluk Deraman, Kapor district, Saiburi, Pattani. He said the team of rangers were returning from a meeting when the bomb exploded when they arrived at the incident location. The pickup truck used by the rangers was blown 10 metres away and the vehicle was destroyed, he added. He said police also detected another two more bombs which did not explode in the same area with each weighing 50 kilogrammes. One of them was set in a cooking gas tank while the other was placed in a pipe on an improvised motorcycle left by the roadside, he said. Meanwhile at 8.30 am, the imam of Kg. Payo mosque in Kadunung, Saiburi, Pattani who was identified as Deraman bin Chewan was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle, he said. Deraman, 76, who was seriously injured after being shot five times with a pistol on the body and head later died at Saiburi Hospital. The imam was shot while riding a motorcycle to buy breakfast at a shop in the village. He was seriously injured in another shooting incident on March 26, 2013. Imam is an Islamic leadership position. It is most commonly in the context of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community. --BERNAMA