PATTANI: An excavator, a road grader and a water truck were damaged after being set on fire by a group of six men in Thung Yang Daeng district early yesterday, police said.
The attack preceded two other incidents of unrest in the province and another in Songkhla yesterday.
Pol Maj Withaya Suthirak, a Thung Yang Daeng police investigator, said the vehicles were set on fire about 1.40am. The six men arrived on three motorcycles at a work site at Moo 1 village in tambon Nam Dam.
The site was set up by Porn Kaew Construction Company, which had been contracted to repair roads in tambon Nam Dam by the Transport Ministry's Department of Rural Roads. The repair work began in December.
On arrival, the men forced two assistant village chiefs, Buraheng Yama and Manusi Chewae, to lie on the ground and tied their hands behind their backs. They then poured fuel on a water truck, an excavator and a road grader and set them ablaze.
The two assistant village chiefs were on security duty guarding the company's work equipment. After setting fire to the machines and the water truck, the men fled. The assistant village chiefs were unhurt.
The fire left the machines and the truck damaged. Police were investigating to establish whether the incident was related to insurgency in the region or to business conflicts.
At 7.30am, two phone signal poles and two closed-circuit cameras were set on fire by a group of perpetrators in tambon Khao Matoom in Yarang district.
Fifteen minutes later, used tyres were burned and a fake bomb tied to a power pole along the road leading to Ban Kwanpa in Khok Pho district.
In neighbouring Songkhla, a fire was started at the village security kiosk in Ban Thung Phra Yod of tambon Lampai, Thepa district around 7am yesterday. No one was hurt. The authorities were finding out if the attacks in the two provinces were coordinated.
Pol Maj Gen Pitchawut Sanguansombatsiri, chief of Pattanai provincial police, said the police were speeding up the investigation into the four incidents. In the Thung Yang Daeng attack, police are close to identifying the suspects. He said the attacks are believed to coincide with the Songkran festival and the holy month of Ramadan.