YALA: Authorities have identified two of the four gunmen who killed two Border Patrol Police (BPP) officers in a mosque on Friday, saying they believed the attack was an act of revenge by RKK separatists for the arrest of sympathisers.
A source at a southern border security agency said on Saturday that two of the assailants had been identified as Apinan Stok and Abdulloh Taportor, who are key insurgents still active in Than To and Bannang Sata districts of Yala.
Officers are still trying to verify the identities of the two other gunmen.
The four attackers travelled on two motorcycles to the Narul Ibadah mosque in Ban Mayo in tambon Than To on Friday afternoon. They entered the mosque at 1.30pm and shot the two officers in the head while they were praying.
The slain officers were identified as Pol Lt Adul Rakpratch and Pol Sub Lt Waesomlee Waehama, both of them from the 44th BPP Task Force.
The source said revenge by the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent group might have been the motive for the killing. Earlier, police had detained some insurgent sympathisers at Ban Mayo for alleged involvement in the killing of Pol Snr Sgt Maj Pirunrat Phutthasiri, a BPP officer, on Jan 28.
