Costly lesson for bomb demolition squad
Security forces in the far South have learned a costly lesson that they must not take back to their bases an improvised explosive device which has been defused and thought to be safe.
Three marines attached to the bomb demolition squad, including an officer, were killed and six others were injured, two of them in serious condition, in a marine base of the 32nd task force in Bacho district of Narathiwat on April 22 when some of them tried to pry open an explosive-stuffed gas cylinder which they thought was safe after it was already defused on site where it had been found near an anti-peace process banner.
Some bomb demolition officials initially suspected that the IED was rigged with multiple triggers but others thought the explosion was accidental as sparks from attempt to pry open the cylinder might have detonated the explosive inside.
Captain Somkiat Pholprayoon, commander of the marine task force, said that an investigation was under way to determine the exact cause of the fatal blast – whether it was accidental or whether it was caused by a multiple-triggered mechanism.
Lt-Col Somkuan Kongying, head of the Army’s Anothai bomb demolition squad, said that as a safety precaution to prevent a repeat of the April 22 tragedy all IEDs had to be destroyed on site immediately and must not be brought back to bases.
A bomb demolition expert said that it was highly unlikely that the IED had a multiple-triggered mechanism because putting the mechanism inside the cylinder was very complicated and highly risky and had the mechanism been put outside the cylinder it should have been noticed by the offidials in the first place.
The expert who is a trainer of bomb demolition squad explained that trainees were told to destroy the IEDs on site but some of them might have been too concerned to keep the IEDs as an evidence and hence compromised the safety problem.
The April 22 bomb explosion was widely thought to be a retaliation by the Islamist militants to avenge the killing of 16 militants by the marines in Bacho district on February 13 in a failed attempt to seize the marines’ base. A marine official of the base was earlier kidnapped and killed in an execution style.
Regarding the incident, Army Commander-in-Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said he felt very sorry for the death of the three marines and others in the restive far South. He, however, maintained that the military had to exercise extreme restraint and would not resort to violence against the militants as that could encourage young Muslims to join the ranks of the militants.
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Caption : Ceremony to send 3 marine's bodies back home