YALA: An army ranger was killed and three other ranger volunteers wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Bannang Sata district of this southern border province on Friday.
The bomb went off on Yala-Betong Road in tambon Bannang Sata, near Ban Taopoon School, around 10am when a patrol of army rangers and ranger volunteers walked past the area, said a police officer at the Bannang Stat district police station’s radio centre.
An initial investigation found that attackers, who were hiding at a rubber plantation behind the school, immediately detonated the bomb when the patrol arrived at the spot.
The dead ranger was identified as Sgt Sommai Natsuebwong. The injured ranger volunteers were Natthaphol Upatha, who sustained broken legs; Komin Sarathee, who sustained serious shrapnel wounds along his body, and Porncharoen Yokphoonpholdee with head injuries.
Police cordoned off the scene, pending the arrival of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers to examine the area.
The bomb blast followed a string of arson attacks in three southernmost border provinces late on Thursday night.
Pol Lt Gen Nanthadet Yoinuan, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9, reported that mobile phone antenna towers of all mobile systems were torched, and the investigation was ongoing.
EOD officers examine the blast site in Yala’s Bannang Sata district on Friday morning. (Photo supplied/ Wassana Nanuam)