PATTANI — Two senior soldiers and five civilians were injured after a motorcycle bomb went off when their vehicles passed by on a highway in Nong Chik district on Thursday.
The attack occurred on a bridge on Highway 42 (Pattani-Don Yarng) in Moo 1 village of Bang Khao sub-district at 4pm. Police said a military bus and a Toyota Camry from Inkhayuthaboriharn military camp were heading to Muang district when a 10kg bomb hidden in a motorcycle parked near the bridge exploded.
The bomb heavily damaged the Toyota sedan and broke windows of the bus. A male soldier and his female subordinate inside the sedan, Col Boonchai Boonwisit, 56, and Lt Col Pensiri In-aksorn, 50, were badly hurt by the blast.
The other five injured, four women and a five-year-old, were on the bus en route to pick up children of soldiers from schools in Muang district. One of them, identified as Sorhabeeya Hayeeyusoh, 17, was in critical condition.
The attack came after intelligence agencies had warned police and military officers last night that they had received a tip that suspected insurgents were planning to stage an attack in Nong Chik.
Photo by Abdulloh Benjakat