The government's emergency situation management panel wants to remove Sungai Kolok district in Narathiwat from areas covered by the emergency decree, according to the National Security Council (NSC).
However, the removal still requires approval from the cabinet. If approved, the Internal Security Act will be enforced in the area instead of the emergency decree. The removal of Sungai Kolok would make it the third district after Mae Lan in Pattani and Betong in Yala to have the emergency decree lifted.
Downgrading the security status was proposed by the Internal Security Operations Command after relevant authorities assessed the situation and agreed the district had met the criteria for doing so.
The emergency situation management panel is chaired by Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who is also deputy prime minister in charge of national security. The panel also consists of the interior minister and the leaders of the three armed forces.
Lifting the decree from Sungai Kolok is intended to facilitate the government's local economic development initiatives in the deep South.
According to the NSC, the panel has also agreed to ask the cabinet to approve another extension of the emergency decree in the deep South except for the three districts for another three months from June 20 until Sept 19.
If granted, it will be its 52nd extension.
Meanwhile, a volunteer ranger was wounded yesterday during a clash with a group of militants in an area bordering the districts of Rangae and Chana in Narathiwat, local authorities said.
Somsak Khlathong, 43, was shot in the hip during the gunfight with five or six militants hiding in rubber plantations. The ranger was part of a nine-member unit which was pursuing an armed group allegedly led by Muhamad Khade.
The clash lasted about 15 minutes before the militants fled. Authorities later found more than 20 spent M-16 bullets and a homemade bomb at the scene which was defused by bomb experts.
In Yala's Muang district, a village headman was injured and his wife escaped unharmed in a gun attack while they were returning home on Thursday evening. Rohing Mama, 50, received a head wound.
