YALA : Four soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Yala yesterday as they were travelling in an armoured car.
Officers inspect the mangled wreckage of a military armoured vehicle whichwashit by abombblast in Yala’s Krong Pinang district yesterday.The attack killed four soldiers and injured three civilians. MALUDINGDEETO
Another three civilians were injured when their truck fell into the crater left by the blast.
The soldiers, attached to Task Force 13, were travelling in an armoured vehicle on their way to Krong Pinang district office when the attack occurred, police said.
As the vehicle entered Ban Kadudo Moo 3 in Krong Pinang's tambon Sa-eh, insurgents detonated the bomb, which threw the car off the road.
Sgt Maj Saiyud Fuangdej, 51, and Sgt Kiatisak Buapad, 31, died at the scene.
Their colleagues Sgt Tharaphong Talasa, 29, and Pvt Suraphan Saengthao, 22, succumbed to severe injuries and were pronounced dead at Yala Central Hospital.
Shortly after the blast Ma Mahaming, 40, accompanied by his children _ four-year-old Muhamatatsa and 15-year-old Suranani _ drove his pickup truck into the crater left behind by the blast.
All sustained injuries and were taken to Krong Pinang Hospital.
Officers who examined the scene said the attackers had hidden a homemade bomb, which weighed between 30-50 kilogrammes, beneath the road and waited for the security forces to approach.
Investigators believed the attackers were members of an insurgent group led by Aba Cheali, who is believed to be active in Krong Pinang and Bannang Sata districts.
Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Command spokesman Col Pramote Prom-in yesterday called on civic groups and non-government organisations to denounce the attack.
The attackers are "extremists", pursuing their separatist cause in the Muslim-dominated South without thinking about what the effects the violence has on the innocent, he said.
Meanwhile, a man was shot dead on a local road in Pattani's Sai Buri district yesterday, police said.
He was named as Mawee Masae, 29, a resident of Moo 6 in Saiburi's tambon Manang Dalum.
Mawee had been arrested on a charge of violating the security law in 2003 but was later released.
Witnesses told police the victim was standing on the side of a rural road in Ban Jalako in tambon Manang Dalum waiting for his friend to pick him up. Two men on a motorcycle approached, and the pillion rider fired a single shot. The attackers then fled.
Mawee sustained a bullet wound to the head and died at the scene.
Meanwhile, a military source said the government has sent a team of negotiators from the 4th Region Army to Sweden to talk to Shamsuddin Khan's Pulo (Patani United Liberation Organisation) splinter group and Kasturi Mahkota's Pulo splinter group.
The source said the two Pulo splinter groups are still active in the deep South and talking to them would help bring about peace to the region.
The source said he was not sure if the groups would be allowed to attend the peace talks between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional. The next round of the talks will be held this month in Malaysia.
National Security Council secretary-general Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut said on Tuesday that two more separatist groups could join the talks.