SONGKHLA : Security has been beefed up in Songkhla's Hat Yai district ahead of the one-year anniversary this Sunday of the devastating bomb attack at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel.
Troops injured in a bomb are treated at Somdejphra Yupharat Sai Buri Hospital in Pattani’s Sai Buri district. ABDULLOH BENJAKAT
Checkpoints have been set up on roads to Hat Yai to guard against possible insurgent attacks in the city.
Security officers also searched for seven key insurgent leaders believed to be planning attacks in the area.
Officers are also on the lookout for three cars _ two Toyotas and one Isuzu _ which may be rigged with explosives to target the city.
The car bomb at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel on March 31 last year killed three people and injured more than 350.
Meanwhile, in Pattani's Sai Buri district, a motorcycle bomb blast yesterday wounded six ranger volunteers and a soldier travelling in a pickup truck on the Sai Buri-Panare Road.
The bomb, planted in the bike on the side of the road, was detonated about 10.30am as the soldiers' truck was travelling back from Taluban municipality market in the district.
Surat Krungkaew and Charoenwut Pinsuwan were critically wounded in the blast. Kamron Pakdi, Nukul Kim-ouy, Kansiripol Nongtrakrai, Jirawat Ubon and Sgt Damrong Duangrung were slightly injured.
A fatal shooting occurred in the same district on Saturday night.
Roshe Maruesa, 62, was shot dead on a local road in tambon Kadunong as he was riding home on his motorcycle about 8.30pm. He was attacked by two men riding another motorbike. An investigation is under way.
Meanwhile, a village defence volunteer was killed and his wife seriously wounded in a gun attack in a rubber plantation in Rueso district of Narathiwat province yesterday.
Pol Lt Ratchakij Luelan, the duty officer at Rueso police station, said the incident occurred about 5am as Isaloh Hayimu, 54, and his wife Rosida, 50, were travelling on a motorcycle to the plantation near Kumabungo village.
While inside the plantation, attackers hiding in the bushes opened fire at the couple with a M16 rifle and a 9mm pistol.
Hayimu was shot in the back and in the head. He died at the scene. His wife was hit two times in both thighs.