Two defence volunteers killed in Narathiwat attack

16 others injured as insurgents bomb truck and then open fire on occupants

PUBLISHED : 19 Sep 2026 at 10:40

UPDATED : 20 Sep 2026 at 04:40

NARATHIWAT - Two territorial defence volunteers were killed and 16 others injured, six of them seriously, when a six-wheel truck carrying them was hit by a roadside bomb and then came under gunfire in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat on Friday afternoon.

The attack occurred at about 3pm as the volunteers were returning from a boat race at the annual fair in Muang district, said Pol Col Praphot Lomkhet, chief of the Sukhirin police station.

Police and soldiers rushed to the scene in Blukaya-ing village Moo 2 in tambon Rom Sai and found a six-wheel truck overturned with its wheels pointing skyward. Several injured and deceased personnel were trapped beneath the vehicle. Rescue workers took them to Sukhirin Hospital.

About 20 metres away, officers found a crater measuring two metres deep and three metres wide. Debris from an improvised explosive device, believed to have been assembled inside a 50-kilogramme cooking gas cylinder, was scattered across the road and nearby areas.

The two deceased volunteers were identified Irin Kaewrawangand Nattanat Kaewsupo.

According to the investigation, the 18 territorial defence volunteers were travelling in the truck back to their base in Sukhirin district after taking part in the boat race.

When the vehicle reached the scene, an unknown number of assailants hiding in dense roadside vegetation detonated a bomb planted beneath the road surface, causing the truck to overturn and be thrown across the road.

The attackers then opened fire on the volunteers, who returned fire with their weapons. The assailants subsequently fled, using their familiarity with the area to evade capture.

Authorities believed the attack was carried out by insurgents in retaliation for the killing of two suspected bomb-makers during a security operation in the Tawae mountain range in Narathiwat on Sept 9.

Assailants attacked a truck carrying territorial defence voluneers as it travelled along a local road in Sukhirin district of Narathiwat on Friday. (Photo supplied/ Abdullah Benjakat)