Two army officers were injured by a roadside IED in Raman district of Yala province yesterday evening.
The two officers were among 21 members of a Corps of Engineers battalion, assigned to dredge a canal running parallel to a rail track in Raman district.
The troops were returning to their camp in a convoy of trucks when an improvised explosive device (IED), buried beside the road, was detonated. The explosion struck the third truck in the convoy, injuring Sgt Maj Jamorn Channiyom and Sgt Panupong Panchan.
Troops from the other trucks quickly took up positions beside the road, to fend off any further attacks by any insurgents, who might be hiding in the bushes, but no further attacks were reported.
An informed army source said that the insurgents had earlier threatened to set fire to construction equipment, prompting the troops to be on the alert whenever on assignment outside their barracks.
Yesterday, Army Commander-in-Chief General Pana Klaewplodthuk was in Narathiwat province to offer moral support to troops in the Deep South.
At a meeting held at Galyani Vadhana barracks, the army chief told unit commanders to improve their intelligence gathering operations. He also promised to increase army support for the defence volunteer force, which is essential in ensuring peace and order in the restive region.
Poorly equipped and poorly trained, defence volunteers have become easy targets of attacks by insurgents.
The army chief is due to attend a situation briefing at the Sirindhorn camp in Yarang district of Pattani province today.
Insurgents have launched a spate of attacks in the past two weeks, targeting innocent civilians and resulting in several fatalities, including a 16-year-old novice monk, a nine-year-old girl and elderly blind woman.
