Man gets death penalty for series of ambushes in Pattani

Security officials inspect the bullet holed toilets at Kortor Ranor mosque in Yarang district, Pattani, after the attack on Feb 12, 2013, when three rangers repairing them were slain and a fourth severely wounded. A local resident has been found guilty of the attack and sentenced to death. (File photo by Abdulloh Benjakat)

PATTANI: The provincial court has sentenced a man to death for the slaying of seven people and injuries to eight others in a series of ambushes in the southern border province about five years ago.

The court judged capital punishment appropriate for Ibrohem Sungaibaru, 28, of Yarang district, Col Thanawee Suwannarat, deputy spokesman of the Internal Security Operations Command's southern office, said on Monday.

Public prosecutors arraigned Ibrohem for an ambush in which three paramilitary rangers and a fourth severely wound at Ban Kortor Ranor village in tambon Klong Mai of Yarang district on Sept 12, 2013, he said.

The four rangers were repairing toilets at Kortor Ranor mosque. Aniwat Janmol, the ranger who survived, said local residents would normally help his team with the repair work, but they left early on the day of the attack.

Six men arrived at the site on a black pickup truck and opened fire at the rangers with assault rifles. Some continued shooting the rangers after they believed them all dead. They then made off with the three dead rangers' weapons.

Ibrohem Sungaibaru

Ibrohem was also found guilty of the holdup and theft of a vehicle in tambon Bor Thong of Nong Chik district on Aug 1, 2013, and the ambush of Buddhist monks and civilians in Mae Lan district on Feb 13, 2014, when four people were killed and seven others wounded.

Ibrohem was arrested in Songkhla in April 2016. He has the right to appeal against the sentence, Col Thanawee said.