PATTANI, Feb 9 – One person is dead and 14 were injured in a car bombing ambush of a Ministry of Public Health vehicle in Pattani while two soldiers in a teacher protection unit were wounded on duty in a separate bombing in Narathiwat.
Minister of Public Health Wittaya Buranasiri said he was informed about the incident and has ordered the officials to be more careful and be more vigilant.
The dead man was a retired Ministry of Public Health officer.
According to the report, he said, 14 people were wounded in the attack and two were seriously injured. All were sent to Pattani Hospital.
The minister condemned the attackers as the health workers are providing assistance to people from all walks of life.
Mr Wittaya said the ministry would consider asking for protection for the staff from the police and the military but he believed that the incident would not affect the morale of the staff who worked in the southern provinces. Nonetheless he said more protection was needed.
The Thursday morning car bomb occurred at the Pattani Provincial Public Health Office. The bomb was hidden in a pick-up truck, parked near the agency’s parking lot. Ten cars and a five-metre section of the office were damaged.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Narathiwat, an estimated 5kg bomb was triggered by a radio control two members of a six-man team of soldiers returning from their providing a security escort for teachers going to school in Bacho district.
Both soldiers were rushed to hospital.
Firefighters spent half an hour putting out the fire in the burning pick-up which was enveloped in flames. The road was closed.
