Five soldiers killed in bomb attack in Thailand’s restive south
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Military and police officers sweeping a road in front of the old Khao Tanyong police station in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat, after an explosive device planted on a car was detonated overnight.
PHOTO: AFP
- Five Thai soldiers were killed and six civilians injured in a coordinated shooting and bomb attack at a checkpoint in Narathiwat province, a region affected by a long-running separatist insurgency.
- Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul condemned the attack as a "brazen act of terrorism" that threatens national security and hampers peace efforts in southern Thailand.
- The conflict has caused over 7,000 deaths since 2004, with recent violence linked to a terrorist network; peace talks with rebels continue under Malaysian mediation.
AI generated
Bangkok – Five Thai soldiers were killed in a shooting and bomb attack at a checkpoint in the country’s insurgency-hit south, the army said, one of the deadliest such incidents in years.
Six civilians were also wounded in the July 22 evening attack in Narathiwat province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces gripped by a decades-long separatist insurgency, local officials said.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on July 23 condemned what he called a “brazen act of terrorism” that he said posed “a serious threat to national security”, adding that it was an “obstacle to peace efforts” in the region.
CCTV footage broadcast by local media showed six suspects dressed in black travelling in a black pickup, followed by a volley of gunfire. Two other suspects on a motorbike were also filmed shooting.
Five members of Task Force Ranger Regiment 45 “were killed when assailants opened fire and threw pipe bombs at the Bukeh Sami checkpoint”, the army said in a statement late on July 22.
The public relations department of Narathiwat province said six civilians were hurt, adding that no group had claimed responsibility and no arrests have been made.
Narathiwat Governor Boonchuay Homyamyen visited the injured at a hospital, including a 10-year-old boy who suffered a leg wound, according to the province’s Public Relations Department.
In another attack in Narathiwat province at night on July 21, an explosive device planted in a car was detonated in front of a local police station, causing minor injuries to police officers and property damage, said the army.
Violent incidents
A low-level conflict has simmered in Thailand’s southernmost provinces since 2004, killing more than 7,000 people, as rebels in the Muslim-majority region battle for greater autonomy.
Government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the past two to three months have seen a series of violent incidents carried out by a “terrorist network seeking to instil fear among the public and target state officials”.
Thailand’s Defence Minister will visit the region to assess the situation, she said in a statement.
In a bid to end the long-running insurgency, Thailand first held peace talks with the rebel group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) in 2013 under Malaysian mediation, with the latest round held in December.
In 2019, a group of Malay Muslim separatists threw grenades and opened fire on a checkpoint in the southernmost province of Yala, killing 15 people, including local security forces, and wounding five others, according to monitor group ACLED. The Thai authorities claimed BRN was responsible, ACLED said.
Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, a human rights researcher at Amnesty International, told AFP that while attacks in Thailand’s deep south mostly target security personnel, the incident on July 22 was “different in terms of death tolls and young civilians that were injured from crossfire”.
The army paid tribute to those killed on July 22, saying: “Their service and sacrifice will be remembered and honoured with the highest respect.”
Opposition leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut condemned the attack and called for the Thai government to address the situation urgently. AFP
