NARATHIWAT: A border patrol police officer was wounded in a roadside bomb blast near the Sungai Kolok River in Tak Bai district, authorities said.
The bomb, planted near a sluice gate, went off as a pickup truck carrying five border patrol officers drove past the road at Tor Yamu village in tambon Na Nak at around 4pm on Friday, said Pol Capt Bunsanit Khiewpradit, deputy investigation chief at the Tak Bai police station.
The force of the explosion injured one officer and damaged the sluice gate and the patrol vehicle. The wounded officer, Pol Lt Manot Khongsuk, head of the patrol team, was rushed to Tak Bai Hospital.
Bomb disposal police inspecting the scene found the bomb was packed into a cooking gas cylinder weighing 20kg and detonated by batteries connected to a wire.
Police said the patrol team was on the way back to its base after providing security for a football competition in a nearby community when the bomb went off. They believed the attack was the work of southern insurgents targeting security officers.