Two border patrol police officers were shot and seriously injured when gunmen, believed to be insurgents, opened fire as they stopped to buy provisions from a grocery in the Banang Sata district of the southern province of Yala on Wednesday.

The gunmen, riding motorcycles, opened fire with an assault rifle and handguns at the pickup truck in which the two officers were seated. The assailants fled immediately after the surprise attack.

Reinforcements soon arrived at the scene and rushed the two injured officers to the provincial hospital.