Authorities say they have arrested two men, one of whom works as an engineer for a local government office, as suspects in the Sunday car bombing that killed a school teacher in Thailand’s troubled Deep South province of Yala.
The explosion in front of a housing complex for police officers in Bannang Sata, a district of Yala province, killed a school teacher and injured 34 others. It also hurt cars, motorbikes, and levelled utility poles nearby.
One was a 27-year-old assistant civil works engineer who works for the Sub-District Administrative Organization (SAO) in Than To, which is another district in Yala. The other was a 45-year-old metal worker. Their names are being kept secret by BenarNews because they had not been charged on Monday.
“[The engineer, suspect No. 1] looked tense while being questioned.” “[Suspect No. 2] was the last person to leave the SAO building, and around 4 p.m., he called [the other suspect] to ask about the car keys,” said Col. Ekwarit Chobchuphon, spokeswoman for ISOC-4, the regional office of the Internal Security Operations Command.
Police say the car used in the bombing belonged to the SAO office and was reported stolen the day before the attack. The authorities haven’t come up with a reason yet, but separatist insurgents who operate along Thailand’s heavily militarized southern border are known for setting off bombs on the side of the road and in cars and motorbikes.
Timer set off the bomb
They were taken to the 41st Ranger Forces Regiment in Raman, which is in a different area of the province, to be questioned. The police also said that the engineer’s wife is wanted for another crime, but they didn’t say anything else.
“The blue Toyota four-door wasn’t changed on the outside, but a 16-kg gas cylinder was filled with a homemade explosive device.” The bomb had two gallons of fuel and cut steel bars and explosives that together weighed over 80 kg. “A timer set it off,” said Police Lt.-Gen. Piyawat Chalermsi, who is in charge of Provincial Police Region 9. This confirmed that the Toyota belonged to the Than So SAO.
The attack hurt 34 people, but none of their injuries were life-threatening. Police named the only person who died as Rokiyoh Sarana, a 45-year-old teacher at an Islamic school in the area. People in charge say she died when the bomb went off as she drove by on her way to get food for her kids.
Ramadan Hayeeawae, deputy secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), said that Rokiyah was a married mother of three children and that her family would get help and money. Along with 500,000 baht (about $14,000), the payment would cover the three children’s college costs and help with their studies.
Conflict in Thailand’s Deep South
Separatists have been fighting for decades in Yala and three nearby provinces in the mostly Malay Muslim border area next to Malaysia.
A local think tank called Deep South Watch says that since the insurgency started up again 20 years ago, there have been more than 22,200 violent events in the area, causing more than 7,540 deaths and 14,000 injuries.
The attack on Sunday was the ninth car bombing in Thailand’s southern border provinces since 2017 that targeted police housing.
The last event happened at the Muang Narathiwat Police Station flats on November 22, 2022. It killed one officer and hurt 37 people in Narathiwat province, which is nearby.
Insurgency-related violence has not stopped, even though Malaysia facilitated direct peace talks between Thailand and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the biggest and most powerful of the southern rebel groups and factions. These talks began in 2020.
Thailand’s southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, which are close to Malaysia, are at the center of the ongoing conflict. Songkhla Province’s several districts are also involved. This area is widely known as the “Deep South.”
Prominently Malay Muslims
About 80% of the 2 million people who live there are Muslims. More specifically, they are Malay Muslims who speak Malay and are proud of their Pattani-Malay culture.
Since 2004, when fighting started up again between radical Muslims and the Thai government, this area has been a battleground. Casualties have included more than 5,600 people killed by bombings and other attacks.
The armed groups didn’t just target the Thai security force and Buddhists; they also went after Muslim teachers in public schools and Muslims who worked in government offices.
Assaulters see Muslims who work with Thailand as rebels and go after them. Aside from that, there are also random bombs that hurt regular people. There are times when armed rebels are behind these violent attacks and bombings, and times when the Thai security force is behind them.
There are also a lot of drug-related crimes, most of which are unreported acts of terrorism, which makes it even harder to solve the problem.