Bomb wounds five police on patrol in Betong
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Five police officers on patrol and one passing motorist were slightly wounded by a roadside bomb yesterday morning in Yala's Betong district.
Following the explosion report at 11.40am, police and bomb squad members rushed to the scene in Tambon Aiyerweng to find a two-metre-wide, one-metre-deep crater. The police patrol truck was riddled with shrapnel.
Police suspect a home-made bomb, put in a 5kg cooking cylinder, was planted by insurgent sympathisers to target state officials on morning patrol, as the national intelligence agency had previously warned that insurgents were preparing to launch an attack in Yala.
Another bomb went off less than an hour later in Than To district, reportedly targeting bomb squad members on their way to inspect the previous blast. Two policemen were slighly hurt.
