Surveillance cameras, tyres torched in Narathiwat

NARATHIWAT - Insurgents set fire to surveillance cameras and to tyres at five locations in Ra-ngae district early on Sunday, attacks security officials suspect were intended to lure them in an ambush.

The fires were lit between 12.30am and 1.30am in Bor-ngo subdistrict of Ra-ngae district. Village heads and residents alerted police, saying unidentified attackers had burned tyres on roads and damaged CCTV cameras at five locations, one in Moo 6 village and four in Moo 10 village.

Pol Col Suppachat na Patthalung, chief of Ra-ngae police, said security teams did not immediately enter the crime scene areas, fearing the incidents were staged to draw them into an ambush.

Initial inspections were made by village leaders and residents, who sent photographs to  police that were forwarded to security authorities.

The targets were road junctions and roadside utility poles equipped with surveillance cameras. Four cameras were damaged or destroyed, while tyres were set ablaze on village roads.

Local reporters who visited some of the sites saw charred tyre remains and exposed wire strewn across the road surface. Sections of asphalt were also damaged.

At Ban Ba Ngo Kubo, a CCTV camera housing mounted on a power pole was damaged by fire. Investigators believed the attackers hung motorcycle tyres over the camera installations before setting them alight. The same method was  thought to have been used at three other locations.

Pol Col Suppachat said the attacks were coordinated, with at least two perpetrators involved at each site.

The incidents were believed to be the work of insurgents seeking to disable surveillance systems ahead of possible attacks in the area. Destroying the cameras would also hinder efforts to identify suspects through recorded footage, a tactic frequently seen in previous unrest-related incidents in the far South.

No injuries were reported. Forensic teams were expected to examine the sites once they were declared safe.