BANGKOK, June 3 – Thailand’s Army Commander-in-Chief Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed confidence that law enforcement rather than military action is the appropriate approach to quell the insurgency in the southern border provinces.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for the insurgency-impacted southern border region, Gen Prayuth said his trip was to follow up progress on official operations and to see for himself if there are any loopholes in current strategies to be fine-tuned. Proactive, defensive measures and development have been applied to tackle violence in the South.
He conceded that there is still a problem in provide safety for lives and property as they are vast areas, covering woods and population is scattered in cities and rural areas.
The army chief, however, stood firm that Thailand could solve the problem by itself and that there is no need to seek help from outside.
“The situation has changed and the problem incurred from several groups, but I cannot elaborate on that because it is confidential. We know who they are but they are not in our country, [but they] ordered several groups in our country to cause turmoil. We try to tackle the problem from all sides. We have been able to seize more illegal drugs and smuggled oil,” he said.
He confirmed that soldiers from a number of units stationed in the South work together in unity because they work under the same policy.
The army chief’s trip came after three suspects from the insurgent group Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) were killed on Thursday in a clash with government soldiers in the southern province of Narathiwat, and a quantity of arms and ammunition was seized.
Navy commander Ratharoj Apirachrassami led a special Marine task force from Chulabhorn Naval Camp in Narathiwat to probe areas in the Budo mountain range in Bacho district tracking five RKK members who escaped arrest following the combined Marine and Ranger units joint attacks on their camps at three locations on Budo Mountain Wednesday.
During the raids, the authorities seized more than 100 weapons and ammunition of types used in many violent incidents. Two suspected insurgents were also arrested.
During Thursday’s operation, the task force located the five RKK suspects, who had returned to their Budo Mountain campsas anticipated, and fighting erupted. Three were killed while two others escaped from the scene.
Three guns including an M16 assault rifle and a .38 pistol, two explosive devices and more than 100 cartridges were seized.
One of the dead was identified as Roya Kalmor, an RKK suspect with seven outstanding arrest warrants. (MCOT online news)
