One behead in Pattani triple murder
YALA — Suspect militants on Wednesday shot dead a village headman and his two female assistants and beheaded one of them in an ambush on a village road in Bannang Sata district.
Police were called to inspect three bodies and a crashed Toyota Vigo pickup truck on a road in Ban Kasung Nai Moo 6 village in tambon Tanoh Putae shortly before 4pm.
They found the bodies on the ground near the bullet-ridden truck plunging into the roadside ditch.
The man was identified later as Eeer Sritong, 47, village chief of Ban Kasung Nai Moo 6. The two women, both assistant village chiefs, were Chaleaw Pikulklin, 50, and Urai Thabtong, 47.
Urai was decapitated and the police found her head in a bush on the other side of the road.
It was the first beheading by southern gangs in almost exactly a year. It was the first time a woman was decapitated by the insurgents since 2009.
Dozens of spent cartridges scattered in the area indicated the three were shot by M16 assault rifles many times.
Pol Lt Veerasak Suwannadaecha of Bannang Sata police station said the three officials travelled to Bannang Sata to attend a meeting and were heading home when they were ambushed by at least four gunmen...
The police blamed southern separatists for the killings and decapitation.