[Bangkok Post] Two Thai policemen were abducted from a tea shop by armed men, then gunned down and dumped in a ditch, in Cho Airong district on Tuesday night.The killers used a victim's pickup truck for the abduction. The stolen vehicle was later found burned out in nearby Tak Bai district. The attack occurred as the two policemen were having tea inside the shop. Two local residents told police they saw eight armed men wearing military-type uniforms arrive. Four of the men, who had covered their faces, walked over to the two policemen and talked to them in Thai. The other armed men stood in front of the shop.
The two witnesses said they heard the men speak in the Yawi Malay dialect. The two policemen were then forcibly taken from the shop at gunpoint. Before leaving, the armed men ordered the two witnesses to sit still, otherwise they would be killed.
The two captives were forced into their police pickup truck, which was parked in front of shop, and the eight abductors then drove it away. Feeling safe at last, the two witnesses called police.
After midnight, a local resident alerted authorities that two policemen had been found shot and killed, their bodies dumped in a ditch only about 200 meters from the tea shop. Police cordoned off the area but, fearing a trap, no further action was taken until a bomb disposal team and forensic officers were sent to the scene after sunrise.
At about 4.30am, a local resident informed police that a pickup truck had been set on fire on a local road in tambon Kosit. On inspection, the burned vehicle was found to be the pickup truck, stolen from the tea shop. Police said the killers were obviously familiar with the area as they had driven the stolen vehicle from Cho Airong through Sungai Padi and Sungai Kolok districts and then to Tak Bai, avoiding the road blocks. Some of the attackers may have fled south across the border.