Bomb attacks rock Narathiwat and Pattani, killing five

Two defence volunteers were killed, eleven others, including three civilians, were injured when about a dozen southern insurgents launched a surprise grenade and gun attack on the Su-ngai Kolok district office on Saturday night.

Separately, in the Sai Buri district of Pattani, three para-military rangers were killed and one other was injured in an explosion near a road intersection late last night, following an armed attack on a ranger unit a few hours earlier.

According to the Narathiwat provincial public relations office, the insurgents, most of them dressed in black, arrived at the district office in a pickup truck and sedan at about 9.30pm. They then proceeded to throw hand grenades and open fire with their assault rifles, all aimed at the office manned by about a dozen defence volunteers.

After the attack they sped away.

Police reported three more explosions in the district and one rigged LPG cylinder was found on a road behind a school.