Four police officers providing protection for teachers and one villager were hurt in a roadside bomb attack in Raman district of Yala province on Thursday morning.
The blast occurred on a local road at Na Toey village Moo 3 in tambon Kotabaru, said police at Kotabaru station. The incident was reported at around 7.10am.
Upon arrival, the officers found a partially damaged police pickup truck parked about 50 metres away from the scene. The vehicle’s left side was perforated by bomb shrapnel.
The blast left a deep crater about 5x3 feet on the road. Pieces of the bomb and iron rods were scattered over the area.
Pol Sub-Lt Abdulrosa Masaning, deputy crime suppression chief at Kotabaru station; Pol Sgt Maj Natthawut Paduka and Pol Sgt Maj Masaidee Karee suffered from chest pains and a ringing in the ears, while Pol L/C Theeradol Signsrisanti sustained neck injuries. One local resident whose name was not identified suffered from a chest pain.
According to a police investigation, the injured officers were members of a police team providing protection for teachers at Ban Na Toey School. Pol Sub-Lt Abdulrosa was head of the team.
When their pickup truck, driven by Pol L/C Theeradej, drove past the area, a home-made bomb, weighing about 5 kilogrammes, which was hidden in roadside grasses along the road, was detonated remotely with a communication radio .
Pol Col Supakorn Phuengros, deputy Yala police chief, led a team of bomb disposal officers, soldiers and forensic officers to inspect the scene. The road section was cordoned off.
Police initially believed the explosion was the work of insurgents wanting to create unrest in the deep South.
A police patrol pickup truck is partly damaged in a roadside bomb blast in Raman district of Yala on Thursday morning. (Photo: Abdullah Benjakat)