One marine was killed and three others injured in an explosion in Narathiwat province yesterday.
The dead man was identified as Pvt Kittipong Butsripa, 23. The three injured officers were Warrant Officer Chartchai Thopsee, 40, the patrol leader, Pvt Paskorn Boonmaporn, 22, and Pvt Nirut Khumpong, 23.
The blast occurred at 7.05am on Highway 42, the Narathiwat-Pattani route, at Ban Sompoy in tambon Kayomati of Bacho district, said Pol Capt Kachornsak Kuamanee, an investigator at Bacho police station.
The pickup truck was carrying eight marines on patrol to provide security for teachers travelling to school.
As it passed in front of a village mosque in Ban Sompoy, militants hiding by the roadside remotely detonated a bomb hidden at a kilometre marker, police said.
A bomb disposal team and police were sent to the scene.
They said the bomb was made from a 25kg gas cylinder wired to a communication radio.
The blast also left a crater one metre wide in the road.
Authorities said the Toyota pickup truck was found peppered with bomb shrapnel.
The four victims were admitted to Bacho Hospital and later transferred to Sungai Kolok and Narathiwat Ratchanakarin hospitals.
However, Kittipong was pronounced dead at Bacho Hospital.
Pvt Paskorn sustained serious head injuries from bomb shrapnel while Warrant Officer Chartchai and Pvt Nirut sustained minor wounds to their backs, torsos and legs.
Police said the attack could be the work of a group of militants led by Romuelee Kachaekaso which operates in Bacho and Sai Buri districts.
Shortly after the incident, authorities searched a house in Ban Paluka in Bacho district in which one suspect was apprehended for questioning in relation to the attack.
Meanwhile, Wissanu Rattanahiran and Pramote Chanpeng, Pattani residents, set off on foot on a journey of more than 1,000km from Sai Buri district to Bangkok on Wednesday, to call on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to help address violence in the deep South.
The trip was intended in the first instance to mark the 83rd birthday of Her Majesty the Queen next Wednesday.
It was also aimed at urging the government to help restore peace and security for monks and residents in three restive southern provinces and Songkhla after the bombing attack in the district on July 25 which killed one monk and a policeman and injured six people.
