Islamic uni condemns Sunday’s bomb attacks

The student union of Fatoni University has released a statement condemning the perpetrators of Sunday’s bomb attacks, claiming that peace is the guiding principle of Islam.

Fatoni University — a private Islamic university in Pattani’s Yarang district — was one of the three locations hit by bomb blasts on Sunday.

The statement went on to say that the student unions of more than 75 universities — both in Thailand and abroad — were dismayed by the violent attack on an education institution, and encouraged people to refrain from using violent means to pursue their goals.

The student union also urged everyone in the community to join hands in protecting public property.

A group of about 10 unidentified men were seen on a security camera footage as they destroyed an Islamic Bank of Thailand ATM at Fatoni University. No one was injured by the explosions, which also occurred in two other locations.

Col Pramote Phrom-in, spokesman for the the Internal Security Operations Command’s (Isoc) Region 4 Forward Command, said Sunday’s attacks were another attempt to mislead the public to think that state officials were fuelling unrest in the South.

“The attackers were given uniforms that resemble a state official’s, and they were clearly trying to make sure that they were clearly captured by the security cameras,” he said.

“This is a tactic that was frequently used in the past,” he said.

Col Pramote also said that shortly after Sunday’s blasts, a Facebook user who went by the name “Suwara Patani” posted several details about the bombings that would only be known by the perpetrators.

“The Facebook page contains various distorted information with the intention of falsely implicating state officials,” he said.

“I wonder why people still fall for it.”