Nine injured in three Pattani attacks
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A police officer and eight civilians were injured in three attacks in Pattani's Khok Pho district yesterday.
Security officials later arrested a suspect identified as Sakareeya Sakam in a blockade at a village in the district, and seized 12 fake licence plates and around 100 rounds of M-16 ammunition.
The incidents kicked off when gunmen on motorcycles approached a motorcycle repair shop and shot at its owner and a customer, before a motorcycle bomb hit an unmarked police vehicle while it was approaching the crime scene. Nobody was injured in this blast.
Then a team of six civilian officials led by a police officer arrived at the scene only to be hit by a hidden explosive.
A police source said the three attacks were well-planned and coordinated by insurgents. The attackers planned to launch attacks in the Muang district area while a festival was underway, but changed the location after they could not enter the festival, the source added.
A security source said Sakareeya was probably behind the large car bomb in Narathiwat province last year and is now in military custody at a barracks in Pattani.
