File photo: Damage due to the car bomb in Panare district of Pattani province
Southern insurgents detonated a car bomb in Panare district of Pattani province Wednesday night, causing extensive damage to the district office, the district police station and several motorcycles. There were no injuries reported.
Panare district police say that the pickup truck was stolen and rigged with an explosive device by a group of armed men from Panare Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO). It was parked on the road next to the district office late last night.
This is the second car bombing in the restive southernmost provinces within a month. The first occurred in front of the residence of the district chief officer of Tak Bai district in Narathiwat on September 29th, in which two military personnel were wounded.
On Wednesday morning, three paramilitary rangers sustained minor injuries in a roadside IED explosion in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat. The injured were among 10 rangers on patrol in Village 7 in Chalerm sub-district. All the injured were taken to the district hospital for treatment.
Security analysists observe that insurgents have stepped up bomb attacks in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as the October 25th expiry of the statute of limitations on the Tak Bai massacre case approaches.
