Some 20 to 30 suspected insurgents injured 12 officers while attacking a police checkpoint in the Thai Deep South with grenade launchers and other weapons on Monday, the police chief in Yala province said.
The attack in Yala’s Krong Pinang district appeared to have been carried out in retaliation for the killings of two suspected rebels by security personnel last week in Narathiwat, another province in the Deep South, officials said.
“There were more than 20 of them, mostly locals,” Maj. Gen. Krisda Kaewchandee, the chief of police in Yala, told BenarNews.
“The attack in Krong Pinang district was planned and similar attacks have been carried out every April,” he said, adding, “the unrest in the area this month will be higher than other months, statistically.”