PATTANI: A couple were shot dead and their granddaughter wounded in a drive-by shooting in Mae Lan district of Pattani late on Friday.
The fatal attack took place near a market between tambon Khuan Noree and tambon Pha Rai, said Pol Col Sonthaya Thoopthong, the Mae Lan police chief.
Police who rushed to the scene found the bodies of two people, identified later as Anukul Khunkaew, 60, and his wife Yuphin Khunkaew, 55, on the road with gunshot wounds. A 2½-year-old girl, a grandchild of the victims, sustained head injuries and was rushed to Khok Pho Hospital. A motorcycle was found near some roadside bushes.
According to a police investigation, Anukul was riding his motorcycle with his wife and their grandchild as they returned home from a nearby market. Two men on a motorcycle followed them, with the man riding pillion firing shots before fleeing, Thai media reported.
Maj Gen Piyapong Wongchan, chief of the Pattani special task force, ordered troops to hunt down the assailants in the district and nearby Khok Pho and Nong Chik districts.
Local media reported that the slain couple were parents of Pol Sgt Surakarn Khunkaew, attached to Yala provincial police office. Relatives took their bodies to Wat Photharam in Mae Lan district for funeral rites.
Pol Sgt Surakarn burst into tears during the funeral rite on Saturday. He said his parents worked as rubber farmers and stayed with his elder sister. The injured girl was a daughter of his elder sister, he said.