NARATHIWAT, Oct 19 — Joint forces of military, police and security units have reinforced bunkers at the keeper’s boxes in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district in preparation for any untoward incident that may happen on the 5th anniversary of incident there.
Soldiers from special units, Tak Bai provincial police and volunteers are together replacing sandbags with new ones at the protective bunkers for guards at Tak Bai district, particularly at the Yungthong guard box, a joint checkpoint for security forces.
Barbed wire was placed around the guard station in preparation for any possible insurgent attack to mark the 5th anniversary of the Tak Bai incident.
Military, police, administrative staff, Muslim religious leaders and community leaders are talking with villagers to clarify the government’s attempt to solve the violence and the measures to compensate and remedy the families who were affected by the incident.
The residents were urged not to listen to groups of people from outside the area who try to incite violence.
The Tak Bai violence occurred on Oct 25, 2004 when hundreds of people were arrested in their protest against the arrest of six local men. The arrested protesters were handcuffed and thrown into trucks heading for an army camp in nearby Pattani province. At least 85 of them were found to have suffocated on the vehicles’ arrival at the camp.
