Chiang Mai: Police are on the hunt for a suspect who brutally attacked and raped a homeless woman in Mae Ai district yesterday.
The attacker not only raped her, but he cut off her left hand and two fingers on her right, police said.
Alerted to the attack on the woman near a deserted hotel in tambon Tha Ton, rescue workers rushed to the scene and found her naked and unconscious by the roadside.
The victim was covered in blood when she was found.
As well as her hand and fingers being cut off, she also suffered severe cuts to her head.
The woman, 28, was rushed to Nakornping Hospital for emergency surgery to re-attach her severed hand and fingers. Several residents in the area said the victim is mentally disturbed.
Local police suspect the woman was lured to the deserted hotel and raped by her assailant. The assailant then used a blade to attack her, but she used her hands to try to protect herself.
Presuming she was dead, the attacker made his escape, according to police.
Despite sustaining severe injuries, the woman survived the attack and tried to seek help from passersby on the road, police said.
Police gathering evidence at the deserted hotel said they found a large pool of blood along with a hand and two fingers. They also found some clothes believed to be the victim's.
The hand and fingers were rushed to the hospital in the hope they could be reattached.
Police were examining footage from closed-circuit television cameras nearby as they stepped up efforts to track down the attacker.
Local residents were in shock over the brutality of the attack as such a violent crime had not occurred in the neighbourhood before, police said.