Thailand's Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont called on ousted
Premier Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand to defend charges
against him, insisting that the government is ready to take care of
his safety.
Surayud, in a television interview broadcast on Saturday
morning, said it is better that Thaksin returns to defend the
charges than to rouse his supporters.
He insisted that the government did not treat him unfairly as he
has claimed.
On the Democracy Alliance against Dictatorship's rally that is
to be staged on Saturday, Surayud said he is confident the protest
will not turn violent because the majority of the people understand
well that the country is moving towards democracy.
Also on Saturday, local police said three people were killed and
at least 10 others injured when insurgents launched coordinated
attacks, including school arsons, in southern Thailand on Friday
night.
An unknown number of insurgents on a pick-up truck opened fire
at a teashop in Bannang Sata district of Yala Province, at about
9:10 PM (14:10 GMT), using assault rifles. Three were killed on the
spot and several injured were rushed to the provincial
hospital.
All of the three victims were 14-year-old boys, local news
network The Nation reported.
Meanwhile, the insurgents also set fire to power poles and rubber
tiles at many spots in Yala's Muang district.
Insurgents also detonated a bomb, destroying two power poles on
the Yala-Bannang Sata Road in Muang districts.
In nearby Songkhla Province, the insurgents set fire to five
schools in Sabayoi district at about 9 PM (14:00 GMT), causing huge
damages.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces -- Yala, Narathiwat and
Pattani have been troubled with insurgency-related violence, which
has claimed more than 2,300 lives since it resumed in early
2004.
(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2007)
