Bomb hits ranger truck in South: one dead, six hurt

The Rangae explosion at 8.50am instantly killed Master Sergeant First Class Wattana Muangkaew, wrecked the team’s truck, and left a 1.5-metre-deep three-metre-wide hole on the road. Six injured rangers, including team leader Captain Sawat Somsri, were later transferred from Rangae Hospital to Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital.
The authorities believed suspected insurgents detonated the bomb, attached to a 50kg cooking cylinder, from roadside bushes as the teacher protection team’s truck passed the spot to return to its base. It was suspected an insurgent cell led by Amran Ming, Hasaree Ming and Usman Aesa carried out this attack. More than 100 officers later searched homes in the area for suspects.
Later, at 11am, a second roadside bomb went off in Jor I Rong’s Mareu Bo-ok subdistrict – but none of the targeted 12-ranger team, on the way to visit a community religious leader, was injured. However, their truck was damaged.
In the afternoon, another bomb attack took place in Sungai Padi district, injuring four defence volunteers.
Police investigating the Sungai Kolok bombings on the weekend, which killed three people and wounded eight others, plan on having an arrest warrant issued for one of the five bomb suspects. They said he was the most clearly identified from security camera footage.
In the afternoon, national police deputy commissioner Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda led a team to inspect eight sites where blasts occurred in Sungai Kolok to boost the morale of local residents. Chakthip said the case had progressed and the culprits, who were believed to have carried previous attacks in the region, would be arrested soon.
Meanwhile, former Army Region 2 chief General Thawatchai Samutsakorn cited intelligence reports yesterday that more bombings might occur in the three southernmost provinces from July 15-17. Thawatchai also claimed that two political parties had jointly funded violent attacks in order to get more budget allocated to the area. However, former Democrat Party MP Nipit Intarasombat urged Thawatchai not to vaguely make accusations, but to clearly identify which parties he was accusing so authorities could punish the wrongdoers.