Insurgent bomb injures 8 rangers and a civilian in Pattani today

Eight para-military rangers and one civilian were injured when their armour-plated pickup truck was hit by a bomb on the approach to a bridge in Muang district of Pattani before noon today.

Police suspect that insurgents planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a roadside construction site, on the approach to Talubo Bridge, and then remotely detonated it as the truck was passing.

The rangers were on their way back to their barracks in Narathiwat, after the truck had been repaired at the Inkhayut barracks.

The bridge was closed to traffic, as an explosive ordnance disposal squad combed the area to collect evidence and to look for more devices.

Meanwhile, in Yala province, security forces arrested three people on suspicion of involvement in the fatal shooting of an army officer in Bannan Sata district on Tuesday.

Acting on a tipoff, reporting that three strangers had recently taken shelter at a house in Village 1, Bacho sub-district, a security unit dispatched to the scene found the three men.

They were taken to the district police station for questioning about the killing of Lt Phuvivat Kamsong.