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.
Relatives later confronted police, refusing to allow them to take away the man's body and ultimately snatching it from a rescue vehicle and taking it for religious rites at the man's own house.
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 the subject of an arrest warrant in security related cases.
He was believed 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.
There was also evidence he was involved in a bomb blast at a PTT petrol station in Than Tho district,
Relatives tried to force their way through the police barrier and enter the house to take the man's body away for religious rites. The officers asked for 15 minutes more to take the body to a rescue vehicle, and then to Than Tho Hospital for examination.
On the way, relatives managed to seize the body from the rescue vehicle. They took the dead man away on a pickup truck for religious rites at his house.
Police initially blocked the road with police cars. They later let the vehicle pass to avoid a confrontation.
According to police, the slain man specialised in bomb making. There was also evidence he was involved in a bomb blast at a PTT petrol station in Than Tho district, and the road bombing in Banang Sata district on Feb 17 that killed one police officer and injured four others.
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.
