Bomb attacks: the insurgents’ "weapon of choice"
The deadly bombing in Yala’s Krong Penang district on Saturday June 29 which killed eight army troopers and injured two others was not the first of such incidents in which several men perished in one single attack.
The 10 ill-fated soldiers from Yala Task Force 13 were travelling in a Unimog truck which had just left their base on the way to carry out a mission. Once arriving at a spot on a road sandwiched on both sides with rubber plantations, insurgents who had laid in wait behind the bushes detonated an improvised explosive device buried under the road.
The powerful blast from an estimated 90-kg IED shattered the truck and killed eight of the ten soldiers riding on it. Two other soldiers were badly injured.
Colonel Kritapas Kruanate, commander of a bomb demolition squad, said that the IED was made up with two gas cylinders stuffed with explosives and fertilizer. The device was wired to a detonator and detonated by insurgents hiding in the rubber plantation.
He dismissed the suggestion that the insurgents had become more sophisticated in bomb making, saying that the IED in question, although powerful, was nothing new. He, however, said that the bomb attacks had been more deadly and accurate because the bombers had access to information about troop movements thanks to their sympathizers.
Prior to the June 29 incident, there have been several deadly bomb attacks in which several officials were killed. The followings are the incidents:
On May 9, 2007, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat killing seven members of the army’s psychological warfare unit.
On May 31, 2007, eleven para-military rangers were killed in a roadside bomb blast and ambush in Yala’s Bannang Sata district.
On June 15, 2007, seven troopers of a teachers’ protection unit were slain in Yala’s Bannang Sata district in a roadside bomb attack and ambush.
On January 14, 2008, eight soldiers on a mission to provide protection to teachers were killed in a bomb attack in Ja-nae district of Narathiwat.
On July 25, 2012, five policemen were killed in a car bomb explosion in Raman district of Yala.
On February 10, 2013, five soldiers travelling in a truck were killed in a roadside bomb blast in Yala’s Raman district.
On May 24, 2013, five paramilitary rangers were killed when their pick-up truck hit a deadly roadside bomb in Sai Buri district of Pattani.
The forward command of the Internal Security Operations Command said that bomb attacks tended to increase as the insurgents appeared to favour the method to attack security forces.
Since the beginning of 2013, there have been 109 bombing incidents as follows:
In January, there were nine incidents (5 in Pattani and 4 in Narathiwat);
In February, there were 17 incidents (5 in Yala, 8 in Pattani and 4 in Narathiwat)
In March, there were 15 incidents (4 in Yala, 3 in Pattani and 8 in Narathiwat)
In April, there were 21 incidents (3 in Yala, 5 in Pattani, 13 in Narathiwat)
In May, there were 18 incidents (4 in Yala, 8 in Pattani and 6 in Narathiwat).
In June, there were 29 incidents (6 in Yala, 15 in Pattani, 7 in Narathiwat and one in Songkhla)
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Caption : The deadly bombing in Yala’s Krong Penang district on Saturday June 29