Eight police officers in Pattani were injured last evening when their pickup truck was struck by a roadside bomb, detonated by insurgents hiding in the bushes.

The attack occurred Saturday evening on the Ban Kuwae Road, in Village 5 of Katunong sub-district in Saiburi district, as the officers were heading toward Ban Moh Saeng in Kapor district, to reinforce security forces engaged in a firefight with insurgents.

A member of the explosive ordnance demolition squad, who combed site of and around the explosion, said that the explosive device was placed at a road marker and, when the police vehicle approached, the waiting insurgents detonated the device remotely.

Shrapnel from the explosion pierced the vehicle’s side window shield and body, injuring the officers on board, including Pol Lt-Col Prapote Lomkhet.

The injured police officers then briefly engaged fire with the insurgents before they escaped.

A police reinforcement unit arrived at the scene and took all the injured to Sai Buri district hospital for treatment.