Narathiwat district chief escapes death in bomb explosion
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Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb Thursday morning as the pickup truck of Narathiwat's Ra Ngae district chief Supawarit Phetchkan passed by, damaging the vehicle and another motorist's car but causing no injuries or fatalities, police said.
The bomb attack took place at 9.45am on Ban Hulupare Moo 1’s road along a railway in Tambon Tanyongmmat. Police found the driver’s side doors and windows ridden with shrapnel holes.
Some 30 metres away was another car, its rear window shattered by shrapnel while a hole, 60 centimetres deep and almost a metre wide, was found in the opposite lane with pieces of the bomb all around it. Police suspected the insurgents remotely detonated the 5kg homemade bomb through radio communication.
Supawarit said he and four village defence volunteers were passing the spot in his armoured truck to preside over Ban Chulaporn Pattana’s vetiver grass growing project when the culprits detonated the bomb. The shrapnel also damaged passerby Mahusend Kaseng’s car.
Supawarit then told his driver to speed away for fear that insurgents might open fire at them. He later returned and called the police. Supawarit said insurgents wanted to kill him, because earlier rangers had checked the road and didn’t find anything suspicious. Saying the assassination attempt didn’t scare him, he vowed to work to protect Thailand.
