4 wanted insurgents killed in gun battle

PATTANI: Four insurgents wanted on court warrants in criminal cases were killed in a firefight while trying to break through encircling soldiers at a village in Bacho district in Narathiwat province on Sunday.

An army officer was fatally wounded in an earlier clash with the insurgents on Saturday night.

Col Kiatisak Neewong, spokesman for Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command, released the details yesterday at Sirindhorn camp in Pattani’s Yarang district.

He said the operation started on Sept 28. A military unit laid siege to Hutae Yuelo village in tambon Bare Tai in Bacho district, where the fugitive insurgents were hiding. The insurgents tried to break out on Saturday night. During the fight, Lt Krisna Phetchamras, 35, of the 151st Infantry Regiment, was fatally wounded.

On Sunday the four insurgents again tried to break out. All four were killed, Col Kiatisak said. They were:

Baruwan Kueji, who was wanted on two warrants — for shooting dead Muhamadsabri Salae, a defence volunteer, in Bacho district, Narathiwat, on March 10, 2021, and for an attack on a police outpost near Bacho police station on Feb 14, 2021;

Assan Sama, wanted on a warrant over a bomb explosion that killed three marines on May 13, 2005;

Abdulloh Ulae, wanted on two warrants for the attempted murder of government officials, on March 2, 2010 and April 22, 2013; and

Adha Yuka, wanted on a warrant in connection with a clash with a government force in tambon Bare Tai, Bacho district, Narathiwat, on June 23, 2014.

In related news, a train from Sungai Kolok to Yala was attacked by gunmen near Balo railway station in Raman district on Sunday, a police official said yesterday.

Six shots hit the locomotive’s left side, causing damage to an airbrake line. One shot also hit the first passenger car, but nobody was hurt.