An army captain was killed and another officer seriously injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling was struck by a roadside bomb in Chanae district of Thailand’ssouthern border province of Narathiwat today (Sunday).

Military sources said that the two officers were on their way to investigate an earlier incident, in which some villagers,searching for forest produce in Chanae sub-district, were attacked by insurgents.

The assailants had laid in wait in bushes near a rural road anddetonated an explosive device when the officers’ car arrived. The force of the powerful explosion destroyed the vehicle and sent it careening into roadside bushes.

Captain Shindanai Raethong was killed by the force of the blast, while his subordinate, Abhisit Mudsakul, sustained serious injuries. Reinforcements arrived soon after the blastand took them to the nearest hospital.

Upon learning of the incident, after his return from the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha expressed his condolences to the family of the dead officer and promised help for his family and that of the injured officer.