• 
• 

Published on November 8, 2007

Pattani

A unit on patrol found the bomb buried at the foot of a bridge with 200 metres of wire.

As the bomb squad cut off mobile-phone signals, one officer stumbled on a rock at the foot of the bridge and set off the powerful blast that killed three BPP officers instantly.

The blast sent two officers flying, knocking them off the road and into the river below, while 10 other soldiers hit the ground for cover.

The deceased were Pol Snr Sgt-Major Kitisak Luanseng, 39, Pol Capt Chana Patharat, 42, and Senior Sergeant-Major Wirat Kong-iertm, 43.

The 15kg bomb left a crater two metres wide and one metre deep at the foot of the bridge. The explosive sent shrapnel in all directions.

Meanwhile, one person was killed and six injured when a Special Forces unit on patrol in Yala's Banang Sata district was ambushed. Army First Lieut Chartchai Krachangsut, 45, died on the way to hospital. He was part of a unit sent to train residents with weapons.

In Yala, Mundey Sathey, 21, a graduate of Thammawithaya School returning to continue his religious studies, was shot dead at the school entrance. Police said Mundey was shot by a gunman who posed as a student and waited near the school. The gunman fired three shots at close range, killing him at the scene. A woman, 49, was also shot in Pattani.

The Nation