BANGKOK, Aug 1 – Thailand’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) emphasized today that the country’s southern violence has become a national agenda priority, according to NCPO secretary-general Gen Udomdej Sitabutr.
Interviewed before today’s meeting on the issue, Gen Udomdej said Army chief and NCPO head Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is adamant to address the ongoing southern violence. Today’s meeting, he said, would follow up the last week’s violence in Yala’s Betong district.
The authorities have geared up to bring the culprits to justice and security would be also tightened in green areas, which were not previously prone to violence.
Pol Lt Gen Yongyuth Charoenwanit, Southern Border Provinces Police Operations Centre head ordered Betong police superintendent Pol Col Wasan Puangnoi and his deputy to inactive posts at the centre for one year.
The transfer was believed to be related to last Friday’s bombing at the Holiday Hill Hotel in Betong municipality, killing two people and wounding more than 40 others.
