Pol Col Sompien Eksomya was fatally injured when his pick-up truck was hit by a blast in Ban Thabchang village in Tambon Talingchan of Bannang Sata district at 1:30 pm.
He was visiting villagers with three subordinates who were also injured.
The insurgents used a wired remote to detonate the bomb buried under the road surface.
Sompien was pronounced dead at the Yala Hospital at 3:40 pm.
Sompien has been working in the deep South for 20 years and has been recognised for his good relation with local people. He once made headlines when went to the Government House to file a complaint that he wanted to be moved out of the region so that he could spend the rest of police service peacefully.
The Nation
