2 killed as insurgents bomb a military truck in Narathiwat, Thailand

Two territorial defence volunteers were killed and 16 others injured, six of them seriously, when insurgents attacked a truck carrying them in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat on Friday afternoon.

The incident occurred at about 3pm as the 18 volunteers were returning from a boat race at an annual fair in Muang district, according to Pol Col Praphot Lomkhet, chief of Sukhirin police station.

Police and soldiers responding to the scene in Blukaya-ing village, Moo 2, tambon Rom Sai, found a six-wheel truck overturned with its wheels pointing skyward. Several injured and deceased personnel were trapped beneath the vehicle. Rescue workers transported them to Sukhirin Hospital.

Investigators discovered a crater about two metres deep and three metres wide roughly 20 metres from the truck. Debris from an improvised explosive device, believed to have been assembled inside a 50-kilogramme cooking gas cylinder, was scattered across the road and surrounding area.

The two volunteers killed were identified as Irin Kaewrawang and Nattanat Kaewsupo.

Authorities said an unknown number of assailants hiding in dense roadside vegetation detonated a bomb planted beneath the road surface as the truck passed. The blast caused the vehicle to overturn and be thrown across the road. The attackers then opened fire on the volunteers, who returned fire. The assailants fled, using their knowledge of the terrain to escape.

Officials believe the attack was carried out by insurgents in retaliation for the killing of two suspected bomb-makers during a security operation in the Tawae mountain range in Narathiwat on 9 September.