A deputy governor who was shot and injured is the highest-ranking casualty this year of an insurgency in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south.Soonthorn Litpakdi, the deputy governor of Pattani province, was shot in the back while visiting the scene of an earlier shooting that injured two volunteer guards, police and officials said. Soonthorn, who was visiting the village in Pattani with the governor and other officials, was taken to hospital after the attack at 1 am (1800 GMT Monday) but police said he was out of danger.”The attackers will change their tactics to target senior government officials,” deputy interior minister Sutham Sangprathum told reporters in Bangkok. He said the gunman was hiding among a group of locals and the shooting was in retaliation for the killing of two militants on Monday by police. Senior police confirmed the two officers who killed the men will receive money and promotions. The shooting of Soonthorn came two hours after the two village guards were shot and injured by suspected militants at the village in Yaring district as they returned from work. The gunmen fled. Police believed the man who shot the deputy governor was not involved in the earlier shooting.Full Story
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