Seven people were hurt on Thursday in unrelated bomb and shooting attacks in two southern provinces.
In Narathiwat, six rangers were injured when a roadside bomb exploded this afternoon.
Members of the 11th Rangers Regiment were returning to base in a pickup truck in tambon Waeng of Waeng district when a home-made bomb placed under a utility pole about 20 metres away detonated, causing two serious and four minor injuries.
Hurt were three Pvt 1st Class soldiers: Theerasak Paikij, the squad leader, Bancha Bamrungta, and Worawat Wongsopa; and paramilitary rangers Sirapob Ngeksian, Kittikorn Tithamma and Danai Lewpipat.
A utility pole broken by Thursday's attack on rangers in Narathiwat. (Photo by Waedao Harai)
They were taken to Waeng Hospital. Pvt 1st Class Theerasak and Bancha were in critical condition and transferred to Sungai Kolok Hospital.
Police found a 20-kilogramme cooking-gas cylinder that had been connected by wires to a battery concealed 100 metres away in the forest.
Yala attack
Earlier in Yala, a security guard was shot and seriously wounded in a daylight attack at a school-guard booth in Yaha district.
Abrohem Masae and two other security volunteers were on guard at Ban Tapor school in tambon La-ae when the gun attack occurred, said Pol Lt Kittisak Kaewmee, a duty officer at Yaha police station, who was alerted around noon.
A pickup truck with four men on board stopped in front of the guard booth near the school's fence. They pretended to ask for directions, prompting Mr Abrohem to exit the booth.
After he did so, one of the four men pulled a gun and fired. The gunshots prompted Mr Abrohem's fellow security guards to leave the booth and return fire, but their rifles jammed. They immediately fled into the school. The assailants fired at them from their truck.
Students panicked amid the spray of bullets, but escaped unhurt.
After the attack, Mr Abrohem was found with serious gunshot wounds to his abdomen and leg. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Police believed the attack was aimed at the guards and not the students and teachers.