Three police officers were seriously injured in a bombing incidents early Thursday in the insurgency-plagued province of NarathiwatÂ’s Rangae district.Pol Lt-Col Somchai Muangmin of Ranage Police Station, Pol Sub-Lt Manus Anukul and Pol Cpl Pichet Mipvaree were wounded when their four-door compact pickup truck passed between a petrol station and the home of Narathiwat MP Najmuddin Uma and was blown to pieces by a roadside bomb. Responding investigators confirmed that the bomb destroyed the vehicle and noted that the remains of a passenger seat was stained by a pool of blood, said Pol Capt Sornphet Tantiamornchaikul of Rangae police station.
At the crime scene, the explosion blew out a hole one foot deep and three feet across and fragments were scattered around the petrol station and roadside area. The five-kilogramme homemade bomb was placed in a metal box and detonated by cellphone.
Police assumed the incident to be linked to the
Meanwhile, security officials say they are making progress in investigating a car bomb which exploded outside a Kasikornbank branch in Narathiwat's Rueso district on Wednesday.
Rueso district police said yesterday a surveillance camera at the bank was able to capture footage of the two suspects. The car which contained the bomb was bought from a used car shop in Pattani. Police said the suspects were allegedly members of an insurgent group led by a man identified as Lukman Jehpor.
Police said the group planned to conduct attacks in parts of Narathiwat during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which began on Wednesday.
| Ramadan strikes again. |