Car bomb in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat injures three on Wednesday

Three defence volunteers were slightly injured when southern insurgents drifted a driverless car, loaded with explosives, into a sandbag wall protecting a defence volunteer outpost in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat on Wednesday night.

Police say that a driver, believed to be a member of an insurgent group, parked the passenger car, laden with explosives, in front of a furniture shop, about 10 metres from the Salamai out post.

The driver then got out of the car, but left it in gear with the engine running. The vehicle then slowly drifted towards the wall of the outpost. The driver escaped on the back of a waiting motorcycle.

Police report that, when the motorcycle was about 200 metres from the outpost, the pillion rider remotely detonated the car bomb, which impacted the sandbag wall. The force of the blast slightly injured three defence volunteers manning the outpost.

Police say that this was the second car bomb used in Narathiwat province this year. The first was on March 8th, in front of the Su-Ngai Kolok district office.

According to police records, since 2004, which marked the start of the insurgency campaign in Thailand’s Deep South, 67 car bombs have been reported, causing the loss of multiple lives and property damage. There were 28 in Narathiwat, 15 in Yala, 19 in Pattani and four Songkhla.

One car bomb was reported on Samui Island in Surat Thani in 2015, which was linked to insurgent groups in the Deep South.