Political party leader gunned down in Thai deep South

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Thailand's Prachatham Party leader, Makhatar Keela, was gunned down in the country's troubled far South and later died at a local hospital. Makhatar was reportedly shot by a group of four gunmen in Thailand's southernmost Narathiwat Province late Thursday night and was seriously wounded. He was later pronounced dead en route to Ra-ngae Hospital. During an exchange of gunfire two of the four gunmen were also reportedly shot dead, one is a suspect with arrest warrants related to the killing of a teacher, Juling Pongkammool, in 2006 and the killing of four railway police in 2008 and the other suspect in the killing of a bank officer in Narathiwat's Rueso District in 2007. Makhata was well-known for his political roles in Thailand's insurgency-plagued southern border Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani Provinces. He was once secretary-general of the now defunct Santipabthai Party, under the leadership of former Central Islamic Committee of Thailand secretary-general Pichet Satirachawan, before forming his own Prachatham Party to contest in the country's latest general election on July 3, 2011 but his political party did not win any seat in the Thai Parliament. (TNA)