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SEOUL: South Korea's military on Sunday pursued a massive manhunt near the tense border with North Korea for a soldier who shot dead five comrades in a rare shooting incident. The army sergeant, surnamed Lim, opened fire on other soldiers at a guard post on the eastern section of the heavily guarded inter-Korea border Saturday night. The shooting spree left five dead and seven injured -- all members of Lim's own unit at the 22nd infantry division in the western province of Gangwon. He ran off with a K2 assault rifle and a stash of ammunition, a military spokesman said. Another official told AFP that Lim was due to be discharged in the next few months after completing his compulsory military service. The army issued its highest state of alert in nearby areas and launched a huge search involving thousands of soldiers and police, who set up roadblocks and inspected vehicles. "A manhunt is underway to find him as early as possible and to prevent another incident from taking place," defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told reporters. The army has formed a special team to investigate the incident, he said, adding that the wounded soldiers are in a stable condition. "We have deployed as many troops as possible to the search operations and to block possible escape routes," Colonel Roh Jae-Chun, a spokesman for the operation, told reporters. The military is also closely monitoring the border with the North to prevent Lim from fleeing to the North, Yonhap news agency said, quoting an army official. The 22nd infantry division was the scene of a bloody shooting in 1984, when a private opened fire and threw a grenade at barrack mates, killing 15. Cho Jun-Hee then crossed the border to defect to the North, a move which Pyongyang's state media later confirmed. The site of Saturday's shooting is located just south of the demilitarised zone (DMZ) -- a buffer strip that runs the full length of the 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier. The four-kilometre-wide DMZ -- known as the world's last Cold War frontier -- features guard posts manned by the rival armies, barbed wire and roads bisecting minefields. Because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas technically remain at war. Many of the South Korean soldiers on border duty are young male recruits doing their mandatory, two-year military service. These young men make up a large part of the South's 691,000-strong troop presence, compared to 1.17 million in the North. But bullying and cruelty in the barracks have long overshadowed the armed forces, and have been blamed for many fatal incidents in the military. In July 2011, a 19-year-old Marine doing his military service killed four colleagues in a shooting spree on Gangwha island near the border. He tried to kill himself with a grenade but survived. He later said he acted after being bullied. In June 2005, eight soldiers were killed and two seriously wounded when a 22-year-old conscript threw a grenade and sprayed bullets over sleeping colleagues at a frontline guard post north of Seoul. In both those cases the men were court martialed and sentenced to death, although the penalty was not carried out. The military has in recent years taken steps including a ban on beating to tackle what it called a "distorted military culture." - AFP/ir http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/massive-manhunt-for-s/1190490.html

http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?124705-...s-wow-the-crowd

What happened? Actually watched yesterday's Chinese news and there was this report already but no details. Checks online also yield nothing of this AWOL case... From ST: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/S...ory_815087.html Two-hour manhunt for former Gurkha officer Published on Jun 26, 2012

CNA Snatch theft suspect nabbed after manhunt SINGAPORE: Police arrested a 52-year-old man on Wednesday morning for suspected snatch theft after a manhunt. He was arrested after a member of the public provided valuable leads on his identity. Police said the victim, a 75-year-old woman, was walking at the void deck of Block 88 in Redhill Close at about noon on Tuesday when the suspect came from behind and tried to snatch her handbag. The suspect failed and fled the scene. Police officers searched the areas around Block 88 and cordoned off the lift lobby. At one point, there were over 10 police vehicles in the area, including two vans from the Police Dog Unit. As officers led dogs around the area to try to sniff out the suspect's trail, curious residents crowded around the block. The breakthrough came when enquiries with a member of the public provided valuable information about the suspect's identity. Police arrested the suspect at a unit in Block 88 at about 1.45am on Wednesday. He will be charged in court on Thursday. - CNA/cc

Abstract from CNA "On the same issue, opposition MP Chiam See Tong asked why tracker dogs were not used in the manhunt. Mr Wong replied that he is not an expert on tracker dogs and he could only inform the House based on what he has been told by the professionals. He said: "The moment the escape was discovered, the guards turned out and searched the area, with lots of people on the ground. I was advised by professionals that in those situations, no value would be added by tracker dogs. I was also told that tracker dogs were deployed in certain locations in the vicinity of the Whitley Road Detention Centre." However, Mr Wong added that he would pass Mr Chiam's views and knowledge about tracker dogs to the police and let them assess whether it would indeed be beneficial to use them in such situations." everybody knows that tracker dog capability and those "professionals" think no value added, are they buying mobile phone packages looking out for VAS (Value added service)? Despite the trainings these "professionals" underwent and the amount of tax payer money spent, these "professionals" ought to be fcuk by the tracker dogs, eat dog poo and clean kennels.

Wah.... Prison Break Singapore Style... Are we expecting more road blocks over the next few days? ========================================== THE leader of the Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network, Mas Selamat Kastari, escaped from the Whitley Road detention centre at about 4.05 pm on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement. A massive manhunt is underway to track down the escaped detainee, who walks with a limp. 'He is not known to be armed. Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down,' said the ministry statement. The public is asked to contact the police at 999 if they know of his whereabouts.