January 14, 2005

Minister's police guard shot, bombs go off

Yala _ A teacher and another man were shot and killed last night in

Bannang Sata district.

Police said Tuanme Kotabaru, a teacher of Ban Kuelong School, was shot

in front of his house by an unknown number of assailants. Also shot and

killed at the same spot was a man identified only as Moo, a driver of

Ban Kuelong self-help settlement.

In other incidents, a motorcycle gunman shot and seriously wounded a

police officer heading a security unit posted at the house of

Agriculture Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha here yesterday.

Pol Sgt-Maj Nikom Phetsut, 40, had just left the minister's house on

Sukhayang road on a motorcycle when he was shot by one of two men on

another motorcycle which overtook him, said Pol Lt Thawisin

Thanabunyawong of Muang district police station.

In Yaha district, a bomb was thrown at a police checkpoint at Ban Baro

last night by two men on a motorcycle. The explosion injured Pol L/Cpl

Thani Suwanwela, 22, and Ropi-ah Kamaning, 34, a woman villager.

Meanwhile, two bombs exploded in Pattani's Nong Chik and Yaring

districts yesterday, injuring a villager and a police officer.