At least seven people have been killed in separate attacks in Thailand's restive south in the last 24 hours, police said yesterday amid a spate of violence following the deaths of 87 Muslims last week.
Two state railway workers and a policeman were shot dead early yesterday, while four other people were killed on Wednesday, police said.
Most of the deaths occurred in Narathiwat province, where 78 Muslims suffocated or were crushed after they were piled into military trucks last week following a demonstration at Tak Bai township.
Six others were shot dead by security forces at the demonstration and three more drowned.
Police said the railway workers were shot dead in Narathiwat province at about 9am, while a policeman was gunned down earlier in a neighboring province.
On Wednesday a mother and her son were shot dead at their grocery shop in Narathiwat province, while another man was killed during an attack that left his son injured in the same province where police found the unidentified body of a man who had been shot dead, police said.
"An unidentified group attacked the 75-year-old mother and her 39-year-old son at their grocery shop on Wednesday evening. The mother died at the scene while her son died later in hospital," a police spokesman said.
A 40-year-old man riding a motorcycle with his son, 15, had been attacked on their way home by about three men with a shotgun, said police Colonel Maitree Saengarun, adding the son had survived after being shot in the hand.
"The motive is believed to be linked to the ongoing violence in the south and police are investigating," Maitree said.
Police said they had also found the body of an unidentified man in Narathiwat province on Wednesday. The man had been shot.
The killings follow the brutal beheading of a Buddhist village leader in the mainly Muslim south on Tuesday, which was claimed as a revenge murder for the Muslims who died at Tak Bai in Narathiwat after a demonstration last week.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was