Insurgents kill five rangers, injure one in Pattani
Five paramilitary rangers were killed and one seriously injured one when a roadside bomb exploded in Pattani's Kapho district Thursday morning.
The men from the 44th Ranger Forces team were hit at around 11am by a 15-kilogram bomb, which was hidden on a road in tambon Karobe, while they were returning to the Joh Kapho base after a physical check-up at a local hospital.
Sgt-Major 1st Class Cherdsak Thammamai, ranger volunteers Somsak Pajongram, Prakaisak Boonchom, Theerasan Jitjan and Maroseh Sadisarimmasae were killed immediately, while ranger volunteer Anan Rattana was seriously injured and is being treated at Pattani Hospital.
The insurgents set off the bomb using a battery linked to a detonator 70-metres away. The rangers' pick-up truck was overturned by the impact of the blast, and as the rangers tried to crawl out they were shot and killed by at least five insurgents, who fled with the victims' weapons.
After the attack, Lt-Colonel Niti Tinsulanonda, commander of the 44th Ranger Forces Regiment, brought troops to the site and surrounded the area looking for the culprits. Kapho district chief Charan Jantarapan also called on residents to provide information of suspicious persons in the area, especially the Kapho-Raman border area, which he believes is where the insurgents and their sympathisers lay low before launching an attack.
