Authorities hold meeting on troubled Thai Far South

SONGKHLA, THAILAND, November 24 (TNA) - Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr, in his capacity as chief of the government's front command, has called a new meeting of the 18-member front command to discuss violent unrest in the Thai Far South. Thursday's meeting considered the procurement of computer x-ray machines for forensic probes in the troubled Thai Deep South and the development of database of Thai Muslim students studying overseas. The meeting followed latest violent incidents in Yala Province on Wednesday night and Songkhla Province on early Thursday morning. In Songkhla, four attackers, clad in Muslim women’s clothes, gunned down a temporary security guard in front of Baan Kuanharun School in Sabayoi District. The assailants used two motorcycles to carry out the shooting attack. The 57-year-old victim, who was a temporary worker of the Songkhla special unit, was killed while he was guarding the school to provide security for teachers and students. Local police found spent bullet cases of M-16 assault rifles at the scene and collected evidence from CCTV surveillance cameras to hunt the gunmen. The police initially believed that it was the work of suspected insurgents, but they did not rule out other possible motives. In Yala's Raman District, a local police special base was attacked by a group of suspected insurgents on Wednesday night. (TNA)