SECURITY was stepped up in Yala to intercept insurgents after two explosions in Pattani last night injured six policemen, but none seriously, and another blast this morning in Songkhla injured two more policemen, Naewna newspaper said this afternoon (July 23).
As four policemen from Songkhla’s Thepha police station were patrolling this district in a four-door pickup truck at 10 a.m. this morning an explosive device suddenly went off injuring two of them.
They were quickly taken to Thepa Hospital and the area cordoned off with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team going in to investigate.
At 10 p.m. last night insurgents lobbed a grenade at a police vehicle patrolling Nong Chik district, Pattani, but the device hit a high-voltage power pole and also set an adjacent wooden pavilion ablaze.
However the six policemen travelling in this vehicle all got injured as they were driving back to the police station after insurgents set off another bomb closeby with shrapnels hitting their vehicle and causing it to skid off the road. None are in serious condition.
Col. Parames Sanuphong, head of 43rd Ranger Forces Regiment, ordered his men to chase the insurgents and closed Phetkasem Road’s Route 42 and Route 43 to prevent yet another explosion.
After the Songkhla blast Col. Jirawat Duding, superintendent of Betong police station in Yala, instructed the Joint Military and Police Administration to set up checkpoints across this district and check all road users and their vehicles in search of suspects with outstanding arrest warrants and stolen vehicles and motorcycles that could be used to set off explosions in targeted areas.
CAPTIONS:
Top: The police pickup truck damaged by an explosion this morning (July 23) that injured two policemen.
Insert and Front Page: Checkpoints set up in Yala to search for suspects and stolen vehicles. All photos: Naewna
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