NARATHIWAT/PATTANI: Two rangers were injured in a bombing in Narathiwat while police manning a checkpoint in Pattani were ambushed in the fresh wave of southern violence on Saturday.
In Narathiwat, police in charge of Rangae district were reported about a bombing at a bridge in tambon Tanyongmas at around 2pm.
When they arrived at the scene, they found the bridge had been damaged and the two injured people had already been sent to Rangae Hospital.
Fragments of an improvised explosive device made of a 25kg picnic cooking-gas tank were scattered everywhere.
Volunteer ranger Pacharapong Thongnuasuk, 32, sustained injuries on the forehead, arm and abdomen
while Sahachai Boonchan, 27, suffered from the impact of bombing, with chest tightness and ear injuries.
An initial investigation found the pair were among five rangers travelling in an armoured pickup truck to the 49th Ranger Forces Regiment in Sirsakorn district.
On the way back to their base in Chanae, the bomb went off.
In Pattani on Saturday, a police checkpoint in front of Kapho district had been ambushed.
The assailants fired 20 shots into the checkpoint, forcing police manning it to retaliate before the assailants retreated. No one was hurt.