NARATHIWAT -- Seven armed militants in military-like uniforms on Saturday night raided the office of a tambon administration organisation (TAO) in Tak Bai district, tied up three employees, and set fire to the office building and an emergency rescue vehicle before fleeing with a pick-up truck, police said.
The building and the emergency rescue vehicle were damaged.
Led by Pol Col Pacharapol Na Nakorn, the Tak Bai police chief, bomb disposal and forensic police went to the TAO office of tambon Khosit on Sunday morning to investigate.
Sakariya Awae, the TAO janitor, said that at about 9.30pm when he returned to the office on a motorcycle from a prayer to be on night duty he saw seven armed men in military-like uniforms waiting at the entrance gate and waving at him. Believing they were soldiers, he stopped his motorcycle, only to be held up at gunpoint.
About 10 minutes later, Muhamad Hassa Kajae, 35, and Abdulloh Cheha, 31, members of the TAO's rescue team, also arrived on a motorcycle from a prayer. They were held up and forced to walk along with Mr Sakariya in front of a water pump building. All of them were tied up with nylon rope and blindfolded.
The raiders then set fire to several parts of the office and the emergency rescue vehicle before fleeing with a Mitsubishi Triton pick-up truck.
About one hour afterwards, Mr Sakariya managed to free himself and the two other men. He then called Pitak Salamae, the kamnan of tambon Khosit, and reported the incident. Mr Pitak called the Tak Bai police to set up security checkpoints to intercept the stolen vehicle for fear that it could be later turned into a car bomb, but they found no trace of it.
The police found this morning that the militants had brought chairs and desks to the reception hall of the TAO office, piled them up and set them on fire. The fire damaged the wall and the ceiling.
A storeroom on the second floor of the building was also set on fire. The emergency rescue vehicle was totally damaged.
At about 10am on Sunday, the Mitsubishi Triton pick-up truck stolen from the TAO office was found abandoned near an outpost of Rangers Company 4806 near Ban Khok Saya in tambon Paluri of Sungai Padi district.
Rangers who examined the vehicle found that a home-made bomb had been installed in it. The bomb was connected to two gas cylinders and a power circuit.
A bomb disposal unit was called. After using a robot to open the pick-up doors and disconnected the power circuit, the unit removed the two gas cylinders from the vehicle. Four cans of petrol left on the back seat were also removed. The power circuit was destroyed.
Police believed that after stealing the pick-up truck from the TAO office, the militants installed the home-made bomb and drove it from Tak Bai to Sungai Padi district, possibly with an aim to use it in a violent attack in Sungai Kolok. But, on seeing the rangers' security checkpoint, the militants decided to abandon the vehicle and fled.