Police officer injured, villager dead in Pattani
A police officer was seriously injured in a bomb blast and a villager was shot dead yesterday in two separate incidents of violence in the deep South.
Pol Senior Sgt-Major Marooding Chetoh, 48, was injured when a home-made bomb exploded under his police pickup truck yesterday morning.Marooding was parking the truck in front of the police station after dropping off his daughter at the nearby bus station when the device exploded. His right leg was seriously injured by the blast and he was rushed to a local hospital where his condition remains critical. Investigating officers suspect Muslim militants were behind the attack. They said the bomb was planted under Marooding's truck with the probable intent of damaging the police station itself, but was detonated prematurely. In a separate incident in Yarang district, house painter Sanya Kabthong, 36, was found dead on Sayabee-Yarang Street yesterday morning. Three bullet shells were found nearby. Police said Sanya was riding his motorbike to work when two gunmen approached him from behind and opened fire with a .45 pistol hitting him in the head and body. Sanya died at the scene. Police said they suspect Muslim militants were behind the attack. More than 1,200 people have been killed since the violence re-emerged in the three southernmost provinces in January 2004. The Nation Pattani
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