More than two months after an assassination attempt on Kamolsak Liwamoh, a Prachachart Party MP for Narathiwat, there are more questions than answers.
A group of gunmen who opened fire on the MP's vehicle outside his home in Bacho district in the early morning of March 20 were arrested. But little is known about their motive. The bullets missed the MP, but his driver and an accompanying police officer were seriously injured. They are in stable condition. Mr Kamolsak is serving his third term for the southern province and is a former human rights lawyer known for his work on security cases in the deep South.
Among the five assailants, one is a military ranger, and two are ex-marine officers. The weapons they used, M-16 assault rifles, were retrieved from a canal not far from the attack scene. Police found that the pickup truck used by the team belongs to the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), a key agency tasked with restoring peace and order in the restive southern provinces. The state vehicle was later dismantled as scrap metal in an attempt to cover up. Police said the five gunmen's answers to the interrogation were inconsistent.
Needless to say, the involvement of state authorities, who used a state-owned car in the attack, makes this case unusual from the beginning. The case blew up into a controversy with bad comments about Islamic pondok schools by Lt Gen Norathip Phoynok, the new commander of the Fourth Army Area. His indifferent statement about the aim for the MP's life and military information operations targeting journalists covering the case made it worse.
Public outrage prompted the general and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who also oversees Isoc, to apologise.
However, the latest evidence, showing that two M-16 assault rifles used by the assailants belonged to the navy, complicated the case further. According to police investigation reports, obtained recently by Isra News Agency, the rifles' serial numbers suggested that they were registered with the Naval Ordnance Department, which sent them to the marine until they were worn out. The documents showed that the Marine had returned the rifles to the Naval Ordnance Department, which subsequently, according to the official document, "destroyed and dumped them in a landfill."
The new evidence puts the navy and the marine unit in the spotlight, along with Isoc.
Mr Kamolsak is upset with the delay in the investigation, accusing police of ignoring his previous calls for them to broaden the investigation so as to locate those behind the attack. The MP also alleged that police stood in the way as he urged a phone service provider to release the gunmen's phone and Line records.
It should be noted that the MP filed charges against two other naval officers attached to Isoc. The navy, as well as Isoc, owes the public an explanation about the case, while police must step up their efforts to find the real culprits and their motives to settle the case.
What's happening seems to support a theory that some state authorities have abused the mechanism, while conflicts that erupted in the early 2000s deepen. Each year, the government allocates a huge budget to the troubled region, where peace remains a distant hope as long as the state abuses its power.
