Gunmen shoot four soldiers dead in southern Thailand
In Thailand, four soldiers have reportedly been killed and eight others wounded in two separate attacks in the country’s insurgency-stricken south.
Police officials said the first attack took place on Wednesday evening on a road in Thailand’s southernmost province of Yala, where a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire on a private vehicle carrying four Thai soldiers.
The attackers, suspected to be insurgents, then pulled the officers out of the car and shot them dead before grabbing three rifles and a pistol from the soldiers and fleeing the scene, according to police.
In a separate attack on Wednesday night, unknown assailants blew up an explosive-laden car as a truck carrying eight soldiers was passing by on a road in Pattani province.
All the eight soldiers on the truck sustained injuries in the explosion which set the army truck on fire, according to police. Two of the wounded are said to be in severe condition.
Three provinces in southern Thailand, namely, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwa, have been considered insurgency hot spots since 2004.
More than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the violence fueled by the insurgents who are fighting for an independent state.
Thailand’s military government says it is employing new security strategies, including DNA swabbing, to contain the violence in the country’s south; however, lawyers and activists have expressed doubt about the success rate of the forced DNA sweeps.
Thailand is currently ruled by the junta, which seized power on May 22, 2014, in a coup following months of anti-government protests and violence in the country.
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