YALA: A police officer was killed and four others injured in an ambush by armed men in Bannang Sata district of this southern border province on Friday, district chief Montri Settapanyo said.
The ambush took place when a team of officers responded to a complaint that several vehicles had been set alight at two locations on Thursday night, Mr Montri said.
The first location was a construction site in tambon Bannang Sata where a backhoe, a 10-wheel truck and two road rollers were damaged by the fire. At the second location in tambon Khuean Bang Lang, two road rollers were damaged.
After police arrived in a pickup truck at the scene in Khuean Bang Lang at 11.30am, a bomb went off, causing the vehicle to overturn. A group of gunmen who had been hiding in a nearby rubber plantation then opened fire on the pickup.
Bannang Sata police chief Pol Col Ranon Surawit said a combined force of police and military officers rushed to the scene after receiving a report of the attack. They found a bomb assembled in a cooking gas cylinder and rounds of M16 ammunition scattered in the area.
Five officers initially sustained serious injuries from the bombing and were sent to Bannang Sata Hospital. One of the officers, Pol Capt Prasarn Kongprasit, later succumbed to his injuries.
Police suspected insurgents were responsible for the attack.
