YALA: A suspected insurgent wanted in connection with last week’s lethal bomb attack in this southern province was killed in a shootout with security forces in Than Tho district on Tuesday morning.
Police, soldiers and local officials surrounded Reh village Moo 1 in tambon Banreh, Than Tho district, around 4.30am on Tuesday, acting on a tip-off a suspect in a recent bomb attack was hiding in a house there.
They asked local leaders and Islamic leaders to help persuade the person in the house to surrender. Negotiations were not successful.
Police said that about 5.45am the suspect fired gunshots, probably to open the way for him to escape. They returned fire. The man in the house was killed. A 9mm pistol was found near his body.
The dead man was Ibroham Salae, 42, believed to be a bomb maker and involved in a road bombing in Bannang Sata district of Yala on Feb 17, police said. The explosion killed Pol Maj Prasarn Khonprasit, investigation chief at Bannang Sata, and injured four other policemen.
Ibroham was also the subject of an arrest warrant in another security case linked with bombings in the deep South.
Army Region 4 commander Lt Gen Santi Sakuntanak on Tuesday expressed his regret over the death of the suspect. He defended the operation, saying security forces excised caution and followed the proper steps.
When the suspect opened fire, they had to return fire, resulting in the loss of life.