Three army commanders responsible for the deaths of 78 Muslim protesters in Thailand's troubled Muslim-majority south should be dismissed, the head of a panel mulling their punishment was quoted as saying Sunday. The officers were in charge of transporting more than 1,300 detained protesters after a riot in southern Narathiwat province's Tak Bai district on Oct. 25. Seventy-eight of the protesters suffocated or were crushed to death after being bound and piled into army trucks. The government's handling of the incident _ particularly the 78 deaths in custody _ drew international criticism and brought attention to Thailand's south, where more than hundreds have died in sectarian violence over the past year. Gen. Kasemchart Naretsanee, chairman of a Defense Ministry committee dealing with the case, said the three commanders should be removed from their jobs, but not forced out of government service "as they have worked to serve the nation," according to the Thai-language Matichon newspaper. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra or Defense Minister Sumpun Boonyanun will consider any further disciplinary action, he said. The three are Lt. Gen. Pisarn Wattanawongkiri, then army chief of the southern region, Maj. Gen. Sinchai Nutsathit, deputy chief of the southern region, and Maj. Gen. Chalermchai Wirunpeth, chief of the unit that transported the protesters.
