April 20th, 2006, 00:30
Posted: 19 April 2006 1711 hrs
NARATHIWAT, Thailand : Two policemen have been killed and nine people injured in a string of election day attacks in Thailand's southern provinces, police said.
The attacks came one day after Thailand's cabinet said it would extend controversial emergency rule for another three months across the Muslim-majority provinces where more than 1,200 people have died in two years of violence.
Militants ambushed two convoys as they carried voting slips to polling stations in Si Sakhon village in Narathiwat province, police said.
One convoy was hit by a roadside bomb which killed a 34-year-old police corporal. Five other policemen were injured in an ensuing shootout and by a second bomb.
In an almost simultaneous attack in the same area, militants opened fire on another convoy, wounding two policemen and a local official, police said.
About three hours later in neighboring Yala province, a 20-kilogram (50-pound) roadside bomb exploded near Wang Phaya village.
No one was injured but the explosion scared voters who were casting ballots at a nearby school, police said.
A short while later, a 55-year-old police sergeant was shot dead by two militants who posed as voters waiting in line at a polling station in Narathiwat, police said. Another officer was shot and is in a critical condition.
Thais are voting Wednesday to choose a new Senate.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra imposed emergency rule last July in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala near the southern border with Malaysia.
It allows authorities to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge, search and arrest without warrants and tap phones
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 55/1/.html (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/203855/1/.html)
NARATHIWAT, Thailand : Two policemen have been killed and nine people injured in a string of election day attacks in Thailand's southern provinces, police said.
The attacks came one day after Thailand's cabinet said it would extend controversial emergency rule for another three months across the Muslim-majority provinces where more than 1,200 people have died in two years of violence.
Militants ambushed two convoys as they carried voting slips to polling stations in Si Sakhon village in Narathiwat province, police said.
One convoy was hit by a roadside bomb which killed a 34-year-old police corporal. Five other policemen were injured in an ensuing shootout and by a second bomb.
In an almost simultaneous attack in the same area, militants opened fire on another convoy, wounding two policemen and a local official, police said.
About three hours later in neighboring Yala province, a 20-kilogram (50-pound) roadside bomb exploded near Wang Phaya village.
No one was injured but the explosion scared voters who were casting ballots at a nearby school, police said.
A short while later, a 55-year-old police sergeant was shot dead by two militants who posed as voters waiting in line at a polling station in Narathiwat, police said. Another officer was shot and is in a critical condition.
Thais are voting Wednesday to choose a new Senate.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra imposed emergency rule last July in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala near the southern border with Malaysia.
It allows authorities to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge, search and arrest without warrants and tap phones
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 55/1/.html (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/203855/1/.html)