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Six people, including a one-year-old baby, were killed and another seriously wounded in a gun attack carried out by four armed men on motorcycles in Pattani last night.
The assailants, who were on two motorcycles, sprayed bullets at a grocery shop in tambon Rusamelae in Muang district about 8.10pm.
Bullets hit seven people who were inside and in front of the shop. Six of them died instantly and one was seriously wounded.
Witnesses said after firing into the shop the armed men walked in and shot the victims in the head one by one.
The names of the dead and the injured were not available.
The deadly attack took place just 200 metres from a checkpoint jointly manned by soldiers and defence volunteers.
It comes just days after the authorities led by the National Security Council (NSC) held a second round of talks in Kuala Lumpur with the insurgent groups in the far South, coordinated by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). The NSC agreed to give the BRN until June 13, when the next talks will be held, to prove they can control the rebels.
Meanwhile, a meeting of armed forces leaders has rejected the five demands recently issued by the BRN, a Defence Ministry source said.
The military top brass were invited to the meeting at the Defence Ministry by Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat yesterday. The meeting, also attended by army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, touched on the subject of armed forces collaboration in the far South.
The source said all those who were present at the meeting decided that "not a single demand was acceptable".
Attendants to the meeting said the BRN was trying to raise the profile of the talks, by proposing to bring the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), non-governmental organisations and Asean in as observers or witnesses, and suggesting that Malaysia be a mediator instead of facilitator.
"This is to open a channel for a third country to step right in [to the talks process], which is something we can't accept," said the source, who also attended the meeting.
Emerging from the meeting, ACM Sukumpol said he will inform the prime minister of what the military thinks of the demands. The government will listen to the Defence Ministry on the matter, he added.
Also, the minister dismissed the BRN's demand for the unconditional release of all detained suspects and the suspension and revocation of all arrest warrants concerning national security cases. "A release, I think, is too much to ask," he said.
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'Better it was me'
Terrorists shot her husband, then her 2-year-old son in the head to make sure they were dead - and the mother wonders how anyone could do such a thing.
Speaking haltingly, as tears continued falling from her reddened eyes, Watcharin Nuansai says it would have been better had she died with her husband and young son and not survived alone.
Ms Watcharin, 34, is the mother of two-year-old toddler Jakarin "Title" Hiangma who was killed along with five other people after four militants sprayed bullets into a grocery shop in Pattani on Wednesday night.
Her husband Saman Hiangma, 38, was among the five adults slain in the shooting.
The couple owned the grocery shop in tambon Rusamelae, in Muang district. They had run it for six years.
Ms Watcharin escaped from the bullets because she went into the house to take a bath.
"I heard gunshots so I rushed out. I saw a lot of smoke so I went back into the bathroom," Ms Watcharin said. "Security authorities arrived soon after and took me to the back of the house. Later, I went to the hospital. I haven't seen their bodies."
The six people who were killed were sitting at a stone table in front of the shophouse, Ms Watcharin said.
The young Title was very attached to his father who had just come back from working on a fishing boat for two months to supplement the family's income.
"He was always with him, everywhere," Ms Watcharin, still choking back tears, said.
"Title was a fast-learning boy. He could memorise products in the shop. He could correctly fetch things that customers asked for. He memorised the Thai alphabet. I was about to find a school for him.
"It would have been better to die along with them than to sit here in the house, to see all their stuff and to think of the two of them so often."
Witnesses said the assailants walked into the shop and shot each victim in the head, one by one, including the toddler.
"How could anyone do that to a two-year-old?" Ms Watcharin said. She said her husband was willing to do anything to raise the family. They both worked hard to pay for the shop's rent and the baby's food.
"I have no idea what to do now that he is gone," said Ms Watcharin, whose parents are her only remaining immediate family members.
Her mother, Samrit Nuansai, said she did not expect her family to become victims of the southern violence as their rented shop was located in a town area, and it was only 200 metres from a security checkpoint.
Ms Samrit, who is from the northeastern province of Buri Ram, said she and her daughter will probably move out of Pattani.
Ms Watcharin, who has lived in Pattani since her childhood, said that she will relocate to Buri Ram as soon as the funerals are over.
She expects to hold a cremation for her late husband and toddler son on Monday.
"My husband yearned to move to Buri Ram. We always discussed the possibility but the problem was we didn't have any savings," Ms Watcharin said. "We had so little income that it was enough to provide for us for a day or two. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough to eat if we moved.
"But now that I lost both my husband and son, I don't have anything to live for here. I would rather move than die."
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