Two members of an army bomb disposal squad were killed and another injured by a southern insurgent IED attack on the convoy of the deputy commander of the Fourth Army Region in Si Sakhon district of the restive southern province of Narathiwat on Friday.
Maj-Gen Paisal Nusang, the deputy commander of the Fourth Army, and his men were travelling in a four-car convoy, on their way back from visiting a paramilitary ranger outpost in Si Sakhon sub-district, when the convoy came under the bomb attack.
It is reported that insurgents, hiding in bushes about 100 metres from a road in Ban Ai-Kasae, detonated the powerful device buried under the road as the convoy was about 800 metres from the army outpost.
The explosion struck the second car in the convoy, which was carrying members of the bomb squad, killing two members and injuring another. The car was reportedly equipped with a device to disrupt radio signals.
Police sources said that the improvised explosive device weighed about 50kg and was connected to a wire and detonated using a battery.
Reinforcements were dispatched to a mountain behind Ban Ai-Kasae, to where the insurgents were suspected to be heading for after the attack.
