Grenades launched at Yala military outpost
SECURITY officers yesterday inspected a military outpost in Yala’s Bannang Sata district that was attacked on Friday night by suspected insurgents armed with M79 grenade launchers and pistols, leaving one injured.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb yesterday morning in Pattani’s Nongchik district injured two patrolling policemen. The two attacks were suspected to stem from the region’s ongoing unrest targeting state officials.
In Yala, a police team led by Bannang Sata superintendent Pol Colonel Chatchai Chanasit along with forensic officials and a bomb disposal team inspected the outpost in Tambon Bacho at 9am. This followed the attack on the outpost at 8pm on Friday. Captain Nakhon Pimsan suffered bomb shrapnel wounds. They found that the M79 grenade explosion left a 20cm wide, two inches deep hole in front of the outpost’s communication room and three other similar craters in the outpost’s backyard.
Investigation found that Nakhon was on the phone in front of the communication room when the culprits fired several M79 grenades into the outpost. Nakhon was rushed to Yala Hospital afterwards and was in stable condition.
In Pattani, a 10kg home-made bomb was detonated by cellphone at around 7am on highway number 43 (Hat Yai-Pattani) in Tambon Bo Thong while the police patrolling team was passing by. Pol Corporal Sorlae Bu-itam and Pol Lance Corporal Ninawawi Yarat were injured but their condition was reported to be stable.
An informed source reported that another bomb, planted in a cooking gas cylinder and placed under a power pole on the road number 42 in Tambon Don Rak of Nong Chik, went off earlier at around 3am, prompting the authorities to inspect the scene where the pole had broken in half. The officers also blocked the road, resulting in traffic congestion, and told motorists to use another route to reach Hat Yai, while they activated a cellphone signal scrambling device for fear that there might be a second hidden bomb but it was all cleared.
