PM expresses sorrow for deadly bomb attack in South
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has expressed sorrow following a bomb blast on Friday evening that killed two Army bomb-disposal officers and injured three others.
General Prayut, who is also defence minister, expressed condolences to the families of the officers involved, Ministry of Defence spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Tantravanich said on Saturday.
A powerful homemade bomb, believed to be planted by insurgents, was detonated as a convoy carrying explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers was passing through Si Sakhon district in the restive southern border province of Narathiwat.
Prayut has ordered the Royal Thai Army and the Fourth Army Area to organise funerals for the deceased and provide the best possible support to those injured, Kongcheep said.
Compensation will be paid to the families of the officers, he added.
“The prime minister and defence minister instructed all security agencies working in the area to increase their security measures. Also, the perpetrators must be arrested for legal action as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.
He praised the deceased and injured EOD officers for their courage and sacrifice, saying the EOD had prevented the loss of many lives as well as damage to property.
“This is a big loss of highly valuable personnel for the Army and the public as a whole,” Kongcheep said.
Fourth Army Area deputy commander Maj-General Paisal Nusang was travelling with a group of soldiers under his command in a four-vehicle convoy when the bomb attack occurred.
They were returning from a visit to a ranger outpost.
An unknown number of insurgents reportedly hiding in bushes about 100 metres from the road detonated the powerful explosive device buried under the road when the convoy was about 800 metres from the outpost. The bomb weighed about 50kg, police said.
The explosion struck the second vehicle in the convoy, which was carrying members of the bomb disposal squad. The car was reportedly equipped with a device to disrupt radio signals, but the bomb was connected to a detonator by a wire.
The latest attack occurred as the Thai government resumed peace talks with leaders of the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front).
The peace talks are being mediated by the Malaysian government, which recently appointed former chief of Malaysia’s defence force, General Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, as the new “peace dialogue facilitator” after Anwar Ibrahim became Malaysia’s prime minister last November.
