Court gives man death sentence for killings

PATTANI: The provincial court has sentenced a man to death for the killing of seven people and injuring of eight others in a series of ambushes in this southern border province five years ago.

The court judged capital punishment appropriate for Ibrohem Sungaibaru, 28, of Yarang district, Col Thanawee Suwannarat, deputy spokesman of the Internal Security Operations Command’s southern office, said yesterday.

Public prosecutors arraigned Ibrohem for an ambush in which three paramilitary rangers were killed and a fourth severely wounded at Ban Kortor Ranor village in tambon Klong Mai of Yarang district on Sept 12, 2013, he said.

The four rangers were repairing toilets at Kortor Ranor mosque. Aniwat Janmol, the ranger who survived, said local residents would normally help his team with the repair work, but they left early on the day of the attack.

Six men arrived at the site in a black pickup truck and opened fire at the rangers with assault rifles. Some continued shooting the rangers after they believed they were all dead. They then made off with the three dead rangers’ weapons.

Ibrohem was also found guilty of the holdup and theft of a vehicle in tambon Bor Thong of Nong Chik district on Aug 1, 2013, and the ambush of Buddhist monks and civilians in Mae Lan district on Feb 13, 2014, when four people were killed and seven others wounded.

Ibrohem was arrested in Songkhla in April 2016. He has the right to appeal against the sentence, Col Thanawee said.