A series of bomb attacks on Friday night which wounded three people and put all ATMs in Yala's Bannang Sata district offline. It was not possible for people to withdraw money from ATMs in Bannang Sata on Saturday, forcing customers to use bank tellers.Police were alerted to four coordinated ATM bombings at about 8:30 p.m. Friday night. A grenade attack and another bomb blast elsewhere followed.
Muhammad Zuwae, who was riding a motorcycle past an Islamic Bank of Thailand ATM when one of the bombs went off, was wounded and taken to a nearby hospital. Bombs were set off at three other ATM locations in the district at the same time. No one was hurt in these blasts.
Soon afterwards, three M79 grenades were fired at a group of police welfare houses behind Bannang Sata district police station, slightly injuring Pornpitak Thaipan, a military ranger volunteer who lived in one of the homes. It is believed that the attackers had intended to hit the police station itself, but had missed their target.
A fifth bomb was detonated inside a trash bin in front of a government office, injuring a policeman who was working to control traffic near the attacked ATMs.
A police investigation revealed at least 10
The attackers are thought to be members of an
The ATM attackers appeared to know the range of the security cameras as they avoided being clearly filmed while carrying out the attacks. About five people were filmed by a security camera at one ATM briefly before a bomb went off there. Only a blurred image of their heads was captured however.
In neighboring Pattani province, military ranger volunteer Ezun Duengpano was killed in a drive-by shooting around midday yesterday. He was riding a motorcycle home when two attackers approached on a motorcycle. One of them shot him repeatedly with a handgun.
Security officials in both Pattani and Narathiwat are increasing security measures ahead of Ramadan which will start later this month. Intelligence reports suggested
Ranger killed in Pattani
A paramilitary ranger was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani's Saiburi district late Saturday morning. The victim was identified as Ranger Esun Dingpanoh of Paramilitary Ranger Company 44 in Pattani.
The victim was driving his motorcycle on a local road when a gunman riding pillion on another motorcycle opened fire on him with a .38 mm pistol. The attackers then fled. Esun was hit in the head and torso and died on the spot.
Police blamed separatist