At 10:00 a.m. on July 13, 2026, Deputy Superintendent Suchart Khunjit of Bannang Sata Police Station in Yala received a report that a gunman had shot a major lumber mill owner in the area, leaving him critically injured near a company office in Moo 9, Ban Cha Pun Tang, Bannang Sata Subdistrict, Bannang Sata District, Yala Province. Police immediately rushed to the scene with Superintendent Atthapol Kulvongmanasopha, District Official Weerachouk Bunyaswadi, and Lieutenant Colonel Nathawut Rattanagal, commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion special operations unit, along with security personnel.

At the scene, only blood was found. The victim was Chatchawalya, 60, a businessman and owner of a major lumber mill partnership in Bannang Sata. He was transported to Bannang Sata Hospital with a gunshot wound to the left front chest, but died shortly afterward. Officers cordoned off the area while forensic teams collected evidence and traced the shooter's bullet trajectory. Radio alerts were issued to intercept any suspicious vehicles fleeing along suspected escape routes.

Preliminary investigation revealed that before the incident, Chatchawalya had driven from his residence in Yala town to inspect his rubber wood processing mill. Upon arrival, he parked and walked toward the office building when a single gunshot rang out, the bullet piercing through his left shirt pocket and striking his chest with precision. He collapsed immediately. The shooter fled, believed to have ambushed from banana trees across the road from the mill.

The rubber wood processing facility had previously experienced multiple incidents: on August 8, 2016, more than 10 gunmen raided the mill, torched the wood-drying oven and a 10-wheel truck, causing severe damage. On March 22, 2024, arsonists set fire to the office building, destroying nearly the entire structure. On May 10, 2026, gunmen ambushed an 18-wheel truck near Ban Ngao Kapo, Moo 3, Bannang Sata Subdistrict, damaging the vehicle.

Police are conducting a thorough investigation and have not ruled out any motive, including security-related tensions in the area or personal business disputes, while pursuing leads to arrest the shooter and proceed with legal action.

BANGKOK — 13 July 2026, The boyfriend of a woman critically injured in the deadly Na Ladprao beer hall fire has described the moment she escaped through the flames and tearfully asked whether she was still beautiful.

"I can't take it anymore. I'm in so much pain. Am I still beautiful?"

31-year-old Tatsanai told her boyfriend, Phitsanu Nim-mian, as she waited for emergency assistance outside the burning venue. Phitsanu, also 31, spoke to reporters on Monday after accompanying her family to Phahon Yothin Police Station to file an official report. He said Tatsanai had arranged to meet friends from the clinic where she worked for drinks at the venue on Sunday night. She invited him to join them, but he chose to stay home and care for her two children. He drove her to the venue at around 21:00 and planned to collect her later. On his way home, one of his car tyres burst near Lat Phrao intersection, forcing him to call a mechanic. When he eventually returned home, one of the children asked where their mother was.

"I told them, 'Dad will go and bring Mum home soon,'"

Phitsanu later received a phone call asking whether he was Tatsanai's boyfriend. The caller initially said her phone had been lost and asked him to come to the scene. He first assumed she was drunk and unable to return home. The caller then told him she had been severely burned. Phitsanu rushed back to the venue, where he found flames and thick black smoke engulfing the area. Tatsanai had managed to run out of the building while her hair and head were on fire. Bystanders used a cloth to extinguish the flames before she lay outside awaiting rescue workers. He said Tatsanai had visited the venue before and knew where to escape. However, the exit was narrow, forcing her to run through the flames.

"I felt so sorry for her,"

Phitsanu said through tears. "She told me, 'I can't take it anymore. I'm in so much pain. Am I still beautiful?' "I told her, 'It's all right. Focus on getting treatment first. No matter what happens to you, I accept everything. Just come home and be with the children. It doesn't matter if anything was lost. I only want you to be safe.'" Rescue workers then transported her to hospital. Phitsanu said entertainment venues should have more emergency exits and clearly visible evacuation signs. Tatsanai had told him that both the entrance and exit at the venue were narrow. He also addressed reports that an emergency exit may have been locked to prevent customers from leaving without paying. "If that is true, it is completely unacceptable," he said. "Money should never be considered more important than people's lives. If something like this happens again, how many more people will die, and who will take responsibility?" Phitsanu said the family had yet to be contacted by an official coordinator offering information or assistance. Tatsanai was not covered by the Social Security scheme and was receiving treatment under emergency medical provisions, which cover the first 72 hours.

The opposition parliamentary coordination committee held a forum marking two years since the national senate election, chaired by Priset Watchrasindu and featuring legal experts including Thammasat University law professor Prinyada Thewanarimitkul, former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, and Palang Pracharath party leader and former justice minister Thawi Sodsong. Four key witnesses presented evidence of how vote-rigging guides were created through coordination among political networks, distributed to candidates, and actually used during the nationwide senate election. The Palang Pracharath leader alleged the rigging involved six coordinated groups that studied election commission procedures to manipulate voting in their favor. Participants recommended that the election commission open ballot boxes for inspection by mathematicians and scientists, expecting factual conclusions within two weeks. Thammasat scholars stressed that senate and parliamentary elections must be conducted with integrity, and questioned the election commission's performance. If irregularities are proven, the case should be referred to the Supreme Court for criminal prosecution, with the DSI continuing its investigation. Despite numerous complaints from affected parties involving 229 people now under full commission review, progress has been slow. The election commission chair said careful examination was needed given the complexity, strict legal adherence was required, and a decision was expected within twelve weeks, with court referral as a final option if warranted.

A two-year retrospective seminar on evidence in the electoral fraud case demonstrated a large-scale national operation involving major political figures, national-level parties, and conspiratorial networks operating in stages. Opposition Leader Prit Watcharasindhoo, while moderating the forum, argued that "electoral fraud" is the more accurate term than "vote manipulation," since the documented process involved money and benefits to hire candidates and voters seeking state power. He stressed the case's critical importance to Thailand's political system.

The seminar introduced four witnesses from Maha Sarakham, Nakhon Phanom, Nong Bua Lamphu, and Nakhon Si Thammarat who detailed the operation's mechanisms, including hotel bookings in Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya, involvement of MPs from major parties, relatives of ministers, and national-level politicians in preparations, coordination, and instruction on ballot-rigging procedures requiring exact numerical matches with no alterations.

Witnesses revealed that when they decided to provide information to the DSI, which was actively investigating the case, party members contacted them to stop, offering bribes in the millions. Police General Twi Sodsong, leader of the Pracharachat Party and former Justice Minister, also provided testimony characterizing the fraud not merely as vote-buying but as "seizing state power" through the Senate to control independent agencies. Critical evidence includes ballot photos and over 200 million CCTV images, prompting calls for the Election Commission to open sealed ballot boxes for verification. The case presents substantial evidence requiring the Election Commission to weigh whether to risk its integrity.

The Rooftop Beer Bar at Ladprao has apologized for the tragic fire that claimed 27 lives and injured many others, offering condolences to victims' families and support to the injured. The bar has established a dedicated assistance center and opened two contact channels—via Facebook and Line—to coordinate with affected families and relevant authorities while collecting evidence for investigators. The bar's owner is currently in critical condition (ICU) under intensive medical care, and the establishment pledges full transparency and cooperation with police and government agencies in investigating the incident's cause. The bar is actively supporting affected victims and their families and will provide updates exclusively through its official Facebook page, asking the public to avoid sharing unconfirmed information that could hinder the investigation.

Police are intensifying their investigation into the "Chinese Children" network, which illegally falsified Thai nationality documents for foreign children. So far, 33 suspects have been arrested and denied bail due to concerns the scheme threatens national security. On July 13, Deputy Police Commissioner General Samran Nuonmma chaired a coordination meeting with representatives from the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Interior Ministry, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to track progress in the case of a criminal network engaged in filing false birth registrations for foreign children, dubbed the "Chinese Children" operation.

Investigation revealed that the network recruited Thai nationals to serve as fake biological fathers and hired them out to file false birth registrations for foreign children. They collaborated with corrupt officials at hospitals and civil registration offices to issue fraudulent state documents to children who had no legal right to Thai nationality. This enabled foreign children to illegally acquire Thai citizenship based on bloodline and birth within Thailand, granting them full access to state rights and welfare including education, healthcare, social security, and property ownership. Authorities assess the scheme poses a serious threat to the civil registration system and could compromise national security in the long term.

As of the latest update, authorities have obtained 35 arrest warrants. Police have apprehended 33 suspects, while one fled abroad and one remains at large domestically. Among the 27 detained suspects are four Chinese fathers, ten Chinese mothers, and thirteen fake Thai fathers. The court has rejected bail for all detainees and remanded them in custody pending trial. Police continue to expand the investigation to identify all network members, trace financial flows, investigate links to government officials, and pursue charges against all parties involved in document forgery and abuse of authority.