Yala - Pathum Thani - loads of killings today
Muslim family of four massacred in Yala
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Yala - A Muslim man, his daughter and two nephews were massacred late Tuesday night allegedly by Islamic insurgents, police said.
The bodies of the four were found in their burnt house by other villagers in Ban Sapom Village in Tambon Patae of Yaha district at 6 am.
Police said the four were shot dead with shot gun late Tuesday night and the attackers also set fire to their house.
The father was identified as Ma-useng Jehloh, 56, his daughter as Nurahayati Jehloh, 21. His two slain nephews were Kuseng Tuankorseng, 14 and Tuware-asueming Tuankorseng, 17.
The Nation
Two shot dead, seven injured in Thai Muslim south
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YALA - Two men were killed by suspected Islamic rebels in separate drive-by shootings and seven security officials were injured Wednesday, in bomb attacks in Thailand's restive south, police said.
A 48-year-old Buddhist man was gunned down by militants while driving a motorcycle in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces bordering Malaysia, they said.
In neighboring Pattani province, a 40-year-old Buddhist man on a motorcycle was shot dead by insurgents in a separate drive-by shooting.
Also in Yala, a soldier was seriously wounded when a roadside bomb went off, and six border patrol policemen were hurt in another roadside explosion in front of a school.
Agence France-Presse
Four killed in Pathum Thani market shooting spree
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Pathum Thani - Four people were killed when an unidentified man armed with AK49 assault rifle and three grenades went on a shooting spree early Wednesday morning, police said.
The man began the rampage after police seized a motorcycle suspiciously left outside the Thai Market in Klong Luang district since 9 pm.
Police took the motorcycle and kept inside the police booth at the market at 3 am Wednesday and the man later turned up to claim for the machine.
A policed at the booth wanted to search the man but he refused and ran away and took out the rifle and fired at a security officer and killed him.
He also fired and injured a pick-up truck driver when the driver refused to give him a ride.
He ran to an intersection and fired and killed a durian vendor.
Police then surrounded him and exchanged a gun fire with him until 5:50 am. A policeman was killed and an inspector was injured during the exchange of gunfire when the gunman was also killed.
The Nation
Slain gunman 'was escorting 2 men'
PATHUM THANI
Slain gunman 'was escorting 2 men'
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Police probe witnesses to killing spree and find firearms material on computer
Police are looking into a potential lead that two men accompanied the gunman who killed three people and wounded nine others in a stabbing and shooting spree at a market in Pathum Thani on Wednesday.
Provincial police chief Maj-General Praphan Phanikhom said yesterday it was possible that Kiartipong Meksawat, the slain gunman, was an escort for the two men, who might have been involved in an illegal deal at Thai Market.
Quoting witnesses, he said the three men arrived at the market on a motorcycle which they later parked in a restricted area. Kiartipong began shooting when a policeman asked him for ownership documents as he was trying to collect his motorcycle, which had earlier been impounded by two security guards.
Praphan said that besides the AK-47 murder weapon with three fully loaded magazines, Kiartipong also had a set of skeleton keys on him. Police are also looking into links between the shootout and a recent increase in auto thefts at the market and nearby areas.
Case investigator Lt-Colonel Thitichat Phanniam said police technicians found a large number of files containing information on firearms and explosives downloaded from the Internet in Kiartipong's computer, apart from his own logs containing details of his frequent target practice.
Police are also contacting people whose numbers were stored in the gunman's mobile phone to get more information about him or the men seen with him.
Most of the nine people wounded by Kiartipong, including four police officers, are out of critical condition, except for Rangsan Wangjor, a security guard whom Kiartipong stabbed twice in the chest, and Theerayuth Sriariya, who was shot in the stomach.
Meanwhile, Department of Mental Health director-general Dr Somchai Chakrabhan called on parents and family members not to neglect children or relatives with character profiles similar to that of the gunman.
He said loners like Kiartipong needed to have family members associate closely with them in order to get them out of their own world as well as to keep check on whether they could potentially turn violent.
The psychiatrist said children with aggressive behaviour could be rehabilitated and raised to become normal adults.
Sergeant Issara Maneesaeng, who was shot dead by Kiartipong, will be promoted posthumously to captain and his family will be given financial assistance. The wounded officers will also be promoted.
The Nation
Police consider improving firearms training
Police consider improving firearms training
Extra firearms training may be offered to policemen after one officer was killed and four others injured in a two-hour gunfight at Talad Thai market in the Rangsit area on Wednesday. Deputy police chief Charnwut Vacharapuk said yesterday that more training was needed for police so they would be better prepared to tackle gunmen.
''Each police officer gets firearms training only once a year. I will ask acting police chief [Seripisuth Temiyavej] to offer extra, more intense training sessions,'' he said.
He added: ''When face to face with a villain, police can put up a good fight. But in this case, the criminal was mentally ill and at first looked like a good guy.''
Pol Gen Charnwut made his comments during a hospital visit to four officers injured in the shootout with suspected car thief Kiattipong Meksawas, who was armed with an assault rifle.
He said Pol Sgt Issara Maneesang, who was killed in the shootout, would be promoted to the rank of police captain and his family would get 100,000 baht in compensation.
Rittinan Puipanwong of Khlong Luang police station in Pathum Thani, who was shot in the hip, will receive a special promotion from the rank of police inspector to deputy superintendent.
Pol Lt-Col Rittinan underwent an operation to replace his lower intestines with artificial ones.
Pol Gen Charnwut also visited three other officials _ Udon Kaetdee, Pol Cpl Wichet Samranlertwilai and Pol Sgt Wirote Kulwong.
Each of the injured received 10,000 baht in compensation from the police welfare fund.
Pol Sgt Udon was stabbed in the chest when he attempted to search Kiattipong, 21, who tried to claim ownership of an abandoned motorcycle at the market.
This prompted Kiattipong to draw an assault rifle and go on a shooting spree. A truck driver was killed when he refused to give him a lift and many people were shot during the chase.
Kiattipong's sister said he was unemployed and obsessed with violent computer games. He had visited websites telling him how to make bombs. Police spokesman Ronnarong Yangyuen yesterday urged parents to turn their children away from violent computer games and movies.
Bangkok Post
Police abandon theory in Pathum Thani shooting
Police abandon theory in Pathum Thani shooting
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Police investigating the shoot-out at Thai Market in Pathum Thani on Wednesday morning have backed down from their own theory that two other men accompanied the gunman, as no witnesses have come forward to support the speculation.
Case investigator Pol Lt-Colonel Thitichat Phanniam said police had not obtained eyewitness accounts apart from the police's own statement on Thursday quoting a vendor who said she had seen Kiartipong Meksawat arrive at the market with two unidentified men.
The officer quoted some witnesses as saying the two men had "only watched" the incident from near a police box when the bloody shoot-out started at 4am on Wednesday.
"Police have not yet found any evidence linking them with the shooting," he added.
Klong Luang station chief Pol Colonel Surasak Khunnarong said Kiartipong had legally bought a motorcycle through a website and met the seller at Thai Market to pay the money at 5pm.
He later parked it in a restricted area, and the Thai Market's security guards then impounded it.
Market director Manas Wilairat gave a conflicting account, saying that Kiartipong had come to the market with the two men at 9pm on Tuesday. He said Kiartipong had become angry after he was searched by police on refusing to show his ID card and ownership documents for the motorcycle.
Many vendors said they had seen Kiartipong sitting and crying on his own in the market at around midnight. He then left and returned at around 3am. Some of them said they believed Kiartipong had been verbally abused or assaulted by security guards.
A vendor said Thai Market's guards had long been known for their aggressive manner and frequent use of force against vendors, taxi-drivers entering the compound with passes and even buyers who parked their cars in restricted areas. The vendor said she had witnessed the guards' verbal abuse, intimidation and assault throughout the many years she had sold her wares at the market.
Meanwhile, Culture Minister Khunying Khaisri Sriaroon said she would use the shoot-out as a catalyst to urge a media-watch committee under her supervision to raise awareness of children being exposed to violence-prone media content and computer games.
Along with files containing information on firearms and explosives downloaded from the Internet found in Kiartipong's computer in his apartment, police found a large number of computer games involving shooting and violent martial arts.
The Nation