Extensive searches have not turned up any evidence about the suspects behind bombings on Saturday which killed seven soldiers and police, and shootings in the troubled south yesterday claimed another three lives.Security officials conceded yesterday they had made no progress in hunting those behind the two bombings that killed three soldiers and four policemen in Yala and Pattani provinces. Soldiers, paramilitary rangers and police scoured Raman district in Yala and Rueso district in Narathiwat yesterday.
Three soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in a bomb blast as they were patrolling a local road. It is believed that the attackers may be hiding in Raman district.
A source had identified an insurgent group led by Abdulrohing Da-eesor. The group probably includes the suspect's nephew, Roning Da-eesor. They were reported to have stayed in Ban Sato village to plot the bomb attack.
Bomb experts said explosives weighing at least 20 kilograms had been put into a gas cylinder buried in the road. The bomb, which was detonated by a battery, was better made than those usually found in the area.
No progress was made by another police squad in the Kapho district of Pattani in their hunt for bombers who killed four policemen near a football field on Saturday. Police yesterday organised funeral ceremonies for their colleagues.
At 12:30 p.m. yesterday a couple who operate a fruit wholesaling business were gunned down in their pick-up truck in Pattani province on their way back home to Yala.
They were identified as Sem Kaewkhongthon, 65, and his wife Pornpen Paolohit, 52. Their 27-year-old son Roongrote Kaewkhongthon was seriously wounded.
Witnesses said they were shot by four men on two motorcycles.
Another shooting attack took place in Narathiwat province about 6 p.m. yesterday.
Coconut wood buyer Somchai Jehha, 41, from Songkhla was killed and local residents Saree Ma, 30, and Hafeesu Yaena, 17, were wounded when two pillion riders repeatedly fired an assault rifle and another gun at their gathering in a coconut plantation.