Narathiwat: Three soldiers were injured in a roadside bomb attack on Wednesday morning during a patrol, police said.
Rueso district police were alerted at 11.40am that an explosion had occurred on the road linking Moo 2 and Moo 6 of Ban Dala in tambon Riang of the district.
Police named the soldiers as Sub Lt Udon Chanasen, Cpl Ni-arref Nilong and Pvt Ardali Bilanglod. The soldiers are members of Narathiwat Special Task Force 30, who were patrolling with five others along the road when the bomb went off.
Sub Lt Udon sustained shrapnel wounds to the face and neck, while Cpl Ni-arref received injuries to his chin. Pvt Ardali was wounded in the face and left arm, police said. The three were rushed to Rueso district hospital shortly after the attack, but were later transferred to Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital.
At the site of the blast, police found a bomb crater nearly a metre wide near a concrete wall that was also damaged.
Investigators recovered remnants of the bomb apparently made up of explosives stuffed in a 25kg fire extinguisher and a walkie-talkie that was believed to have been used to trigger the blast as the soldiers passed by.
The unit, led by Sub Lt Udon, was on its way back to camp after escorting forensic police officers to examine a car crash scene.
They were patrolling on four motorcycles, two of which were damaged by the explosion.