A timed bomb planted under a police vehicle exploded in Narathiwat province yesterday, but the officers it was apparently meant to kill had already moved clear after a child spotted a suspicious man near the car.
Police Colonel Taweesak Sawatdiraksa, superintendent of Buketa Police Station in Waeng district, received a report at 1.10pm on June 19 that a suspicious object had been found attached to the underside of a traffic police vehicle. The car had been parked opposite Darussadah Mosque in Ban Buketa, Moo 2, Lochut subdistrict.
Officers cordoned off the area and called in the Anothai explosive ordnance disposal unit. While they waited for the bomb squad to arrive, the device detonated with a loud blast.
The explosion tore through the windscreen, the rear passenger window and the footwell of the bronze Toyota belonging to Buketa police’s traffic division. Shrapnel also struck a green Kia parked nearby, damaging its front bumper and bursting its rear right tyre.
When the bomb disposal team and a sniffer dog unit arrived, the dog cleared the area before officers moved in. They recovered fragments of an improvised device built from a rectangular steel container weighing between one and two kilogrammes, fitted with a timer and attached to the chassis beneath the vehicle.
The investigation found that Police Senior Sergeant Major Aseeri Chenoh, head of the crime prevention and suppression unit at Buketa station, had been on traffic duty that day. He had taken a team of traffic police and community relations officers to the mosque for the Friday meeting with religious and local leaders, parking the vehicle across the road.
A child later noticed a man crouching near the parked car and alerted villagers, who spotted the object underneath it and ran to warn Sergeant Major Aseeri. He informed his superiors and the area was cordoned off. About ten minutes later, the bomb exploded, sending those gathered for Friday prayers running from the scene in panic.
CCTV footage from a pole near the mosque’s entrance showed a single suspect in black trousers and a white long-sleeved shirt, concealing the device under a white cloak. He ran from an alley beside the mosque, attached the bomb to the chassis, and fled back the way he came.
Police believe the attack was carried out by insurgent group affiliates who intended for the bomb to detonate once officers had driven the vehicle back to the station, aiming to damage the building and kill the officers inside. The child’s alertness meant the plan failed, and no one was hurt, reported Daily News.
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