Army troops and police have apprehended four men onsuspicion of involvement in the killing of a police officer in Kok Pho district of Thailand’s southern province of Pattani on Monday night.

Informed sources say that police and military investigators, using CCTV footage, traced the motorcycle, ridden by two assailants when they killed Pol Lt Veerasak Saraporn, in front of the Kok Pho district Hospital. The bike was tracked down toTambon Nakate in Kok Pho district.

The pillion rider, disguised as a woman in a head scarf, whichcovered his face, opened fire with an M16 assault rifle at Veerasak as he was riding home on his bike.  The assailant then dismounted, approached the victim, who was on the ground, and fired at point-blank range with a 9mm handgun, before stealingthe victim’s pistol and fleeing.

A massive manhunt was launched this morning as authorities, with the support of a helicopter and drones, combed Nakate subdistrict and its surrounding areas.

A green motorcycle, believed to have been used by theassailants, was found abandoned in bushes. It had been stolen from Thepa district of Songkhla province on October 30th.

The four suspects in custody have been taken to the Inkhayuth camp in Nong Chik district for questioning.

Maj-Gen Komkrit Rattanachaya, commander of the Pattani Task Force, said that the spent shells of an M16 assault rifle were traced to the same weapon that was used in a previous attack ona defence volunteer outpost in Pakaharung subdistrict, Muang district, in which four volunteers were shot dead.