CHIANG MAI — A 23-year-old woman who had been drinking alcohol crashed her car into a group of cyclists in Chiang Mai province this morning and killed three people, police say.

According to police, the incident took place at around 5.50 am on Chiang Mai – Chiang Rai Road. 

Police identified the deceased as Chairat Yonglan, 65, Saman Kantha, 65, and Pongthep Kamkaew, 40. Three other people were also injured in the crash, including the car driver. 

A police officer said the cyclists were biking along the road as a part of their weekly morning exercise when Phatchuda Chairuean lost control of her car and crashed into the group. 

The officer said Phatchuda was intoxicated at the time. It is unclear whether she has been charged with any crime, as she has been sent to hospital. 

Drunk-driving is a major cause of traffic accidents in Thailand. During the seven-day Thai New Year festival in April known as Songkran, drunk drivers were responsible for more than 1,000 road accidents, according to statistics compiled by the Thai authorities. 

CORRECTION: Phatchuda Chairuean is 23 years old, not 24 as the original article stated.

PATTANI — Security officers in the restive province of Pattani have reportedly killed a terrorism suspect connected to the car bomb that exploded on the popular resort island of Koh Samui last month.

The suspect was shot dead after he refused to surrender to security officers during a raid early on 2 May, said Pol.Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang, commander of the Royal Thai Police. 

Rescue workers carry dead body of Mahamasu Jeha, 30, from the crime scene in Pattani, 2 May 2015. 

According to Pol.Gen. Somyot, more than 50 security officers surrounded a religious school called Darulbarakah School in Mueang district at around 2 am after they received reports that members of local separatist movement were gathering at the area. 

Pol.Gen. Somyot said security officers spotted people moving inside the madras and shouted at them to surrender, but gunshots rang out from the school, prompting police and soldiers to return fire. After several hours of standoff, the gunfight died down, and security officers secured the school.

One person was killed in the shootout while two men were arrested, Pol.Gen. Somyot told reporters. The deceased was identified as Mahamasu Jeha, 30, who was wanted by the authorities on at least five arrest warrants for charges that include terrorism and arson. The other two arrested suspects were identified as Waesohoh Dolah, 30, and Suriya Taha, 29.

Pol.Gen. Somyot said Mahamasu was also being sought by police for his alleged connection those behind a car bomb attack in a mall on the resort island of Koh Samui on 10 April, which injured seven people, including a 12-year-old Italian girl. 

The military initially blamed the bomb on "political groups" and arrested an activist affiliated with the Redshirt movement, which is largely opposed the ruling military junta. However, the activist was later released and the police has since shifted their focus to suspects in the Deep South, where an Islamic insurgency has been simmering for the past decade, but violence rarely occurs north of Songkhla province.

Approximately 60,000 security officers are stationed Thailand's southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat to combat insurgents seeking to revive the independent sultanate of Patani, which was incorporated into modern-day Thailand in the early 20th century.  

More than 6,200 people have been killed since secessionist violence broke out in early 2004, according to data compiled by rights groups. 

Col. Banpot Poonpian, a spokesperson of the counter-insurgency agency the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), told reporters yesterday that security officers were unable to to persuade Mahamasu and two other suspects to surrender peacefully. 

"We have been instructed to proceed with careful deliberation and caution, in accordance with steps that escalate from minimal measures, to maximum," Col. Banpot said.

Wasin Samoh, director of Darulbarakah School, said in press conference today that the suspects were laborers hired by the madras administration to build a new prayer hall. He told reporters that he was not aware of the arrest warrants on Mahamasu, because the hiring process was overseen by a contractor.

"They had been building for two nights, then security officers raided the school," Wasin said. "The school didn't know that one of our construction workers had arrest warrants. We didn't know where the contractor hired people from, or who they are. We only found out about this after this unexpected incident happened." 

BANGKOK — Four media organizations in Thailand have released a joint statement calling on the ruling military junta to cease restricting freedom of the press on the occasion of World Media Freedom Day.

The statement was issued by representatives of the Thai Journalist Association, the Thai Broadcast Journalist Association, the National Press Council, and the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand.

The statement urged the military junta, known formally as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to revoke three orders restricting media freedom in Thailand. Two of the orders were issued by the NCPO while the third was enacted solely by Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, chairman of the NCPO and Prime Minister.

The three orders forbid the media from publishing information that could affect national security, incite unrest, mobilize protests against the military regime, or criticize the NCPO "with malicious intention."

In today's statement, the four media organizations said the orders "may prevent an atmosphere of dialogue from taking place, and may affect the image of civil rights in Thailand." 

The statement called on Thailand's state media regulator – the National Broadcasting Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) – to act independently without any interference from the government, and also urged all media agencies to act "responsibly."

"There needs to be space for all sides to express their opinions, to help Thailand overcome this important crisis," the statement read. "Every side must respect freedom of expression of the media and the people." 

The statement came several days after a TV station operated by the Redshirt movement, which largely opposes the junta, was taken off the air by the NBTC for allegedly violating the junta's orders. The NBTC formally served a shutdown notice to Peace TV last Friday, forcing the station to cease broadcasting at midnight. 

Gen. Prayuth has insisted that the decision to take Peace TV off the air was made by NBTC, and not his military government. 

Due to the plunge in civil rights and media freedom in post-coup Thailand, the US-based organization Freedom House declared Thailand "Not Free" in its annual report in January of this year.

The downgrade put Thailand alongside neighboring countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The Kingdom was ranked "Free" from 1999 to 2005, and "Partially Free" for the past eight years.

Apart from censoring the media, the junta has also banned public protests, authorized security officers to detain individuals without charges, and sent anti-coup activists to stand trial in martial court. 

The NCPO came to power after toppling an elected government in a coup d'etat last May. The junta has drawn regular criticism from human rights groups and foreign democratic governments for its significant curtailment of civil and political rights.

SONGKHLA — An pilot accidentally drove a passenger plane into a pothole on the runaway at Hat Yai International Airport yesterday, causing a four-hour delay.

According to Jessada Petchmetyai, the airport's director, the Lion Air plane struck a 20-centimeter hole on the runway yesterday morning as it was about to depart for Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. 

The pilot decided to abort the flight and evacuate all of the 182 passengers, causing all departing and incoming flights at Hat Yai International Airport to be delayed. Jessada told reporters that technicians later moved the airplane from the runway, allowing all flights to resume in the afternoon.

Jessada said the Lion Air pilot accidentally drove the plane off the runway boundary onto a "soft-ground area" not suitable for airplanes. 

"The incident was caused by a technical error in navigating the plane of the pilot," Jessada said. 

Thailand is currently under scrutiny by the the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which carried out an audit in January and found serious gaps in safety standards at some airlines operating from Thailand.

The ICAO says it will formally downgrade Thailand’s ranking in early June if the Thai Department of Civil Aviation is unable to fix the safety flaws in time.