Security measures heightened in Thai Far South as precaution

YALA, THAILAND, April 28 (TNA) - Security measures have been intensified to a highest level in the Thai Far South as the 13th anniversary of a tragedy at Krue Se Mosque in Pattani Province, in which dozens people were killed, falls on April 28. Like highest precautionary levels in neighboring Pattani and Narathiwat Provinces, beefed-up security measures have been put in good place in Yala Province and local security forces have been on high alert to deal with any violent unrest. Friday's heightened security measures include strict 24-hour inspections at checkpoints set up at all focal sites across the province, particularly those connecting with neighboring provinces in the troubled Thai Deep South. The strict screening has been focused on motorcycles and people with suspicious acts or behaviors. The move followed a most urgent letter sent by the administrative authority, ordering the highest alert and the most-intensified measures against possibly violent insurgency in all sensitive areas in the southernmost Thai region. On April 28, 2004, clashes between armed insurgents and security officers at Krue Se Mosque in Pattani and its vicinity led to about 32 people dead inside the mosque alone, while the same-day clashes in other areas in the violence-plagued Thai Deep South resulted in more than 70 other fatalities and injuries. The heightened security measures also followed a latest bloody attack on April 27, when six soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb blast and an ambush of a group of suspected insurgents while they were patrolling on a pick-up truck passing through Chanae District in Narathiwat. (TNA)