Five army soldiers were killed and one seriously wounded in a car bomb in Yala's Raman district on Sunday morning.
Police said the incident occurred at about 7.05am on Wang Phaya-Tha Thong road in tambon Tha Thong of Raman district. Two rubber tappers working nearby also were wounded in the attack.
An investigation revealed that the six army soldiers from the Yala Task Force 12 were travelling in a six-wheel truck after being assigned to pick up workers at a model farm at Ban Upoh in tambon Wang Phaya.
At a spot on Wang Phaya-Tha Thong road, the army truck was blocked by a pickup truck loaded with a home-made bomb weighing about 50kg.
Militants hiding on the road side detonated the bomb. The impact of the explosion overturned the soldiers' truck.
Another pickup truck with at least six militants then arrived at the scene. The militants shot five soldiers to death, stole their individual weapons and fled.
The five soldiers killed were Sgt Thirayuth Boontera, Pvt Isha Ba-ngoy, Pvt Pongthep Phadmak, Pvt Songchai Suwanmanee, and Pvt Nuldee Reesen.
Mst-Sgt Chatree Uthahorn was wounded.
Police said the pickup truck used for the car bomb might have belonged to Somsak Kwanma, a teacher at Ban Bango School in tambon Panan of Pattani's Mayo district, who was shot and killed on Dec 11 last year. The militants stole his vehicle after the attack.
Photo above shows how the car bomb (still smoking, right) exploded and blew the military patrol vehicle off the road. Below, bomb experts comb what is left from the improvised car bomb that did the damage. (Photos by Reuters)
