Eight police personnel injured in Pattani bombing incident

PATTANI: Eight policemen were injured, including four gravely wounded, in a bomb blast in Sai Buri, Pattani, southern Thailand on Saturday.

Pattani police chief Major General Pichawut Sanguansombat said the incident happened at about 4.30pm (local time) when eight members boarded a pickup truck on their way back to the police station after completing an operation in Kampung Kadunong in Sai Buri district.

"When we arrived at the scene, a homemade bomb weighing between 10 to 20 kilogrammes was detonated from a distance. In addition, the group of attackers also fired a barrage of shots at the pickup truck.

"The policeman in the pickup truck was injured as a result of being hit by the fragments of the homemade bomb," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Pichawut did not rule out the possibility that the incident was motivated by revenge against security forces after several men, believed to be militants, were killed in a shootout in Pattani recently.

The four seriously injured policemen were flown to Songklanagarind Hospital in Songkhla for further treatment while four others were treated at Pattani Hospital.

Meanwhile, two militants were confirmed dead in a shooting incident in Kampung Kedunong, Sai Buri district, about three kilometres from the scene of the bomb blast.

Fourth Division Army Commander Lieutenant General Kriangkrai Srirak said security forces cordoned off the village after receiving information that a group of militants had been hiding there since July 5.

"Since then, we have used various methods to persuade them to surrender, but they refused.

"A shootout took place late Friday afternoon between militants and security forces that lasted for four hours.

"Security forces found two bodies in a nearby forest on Saturday (July 10)," he said.

Kriangkrai said the dead militants were the remnants of members involved in the shooting incident in Sai Buri district on July 5, which saw two militants killed and three security personnel injured in the incident.

-- BERNAMA