NARATHIWAT: Seven Thai security force personnel were injured after a group of militants used the Jok Irong Hospital here to launch an attack on a nearby army camp.
Jok Irong Police Chief Col. Prawit Shoseng said the shooting occurred following an attack on the district railway station earlier.
“Not long after the 3.55pm incident at the railway station, 10 militants posing as members of the public entered the district hospital and began firing at the camp which was located behind the hospital,” he told the media today.
He said the shooting between the militants and the security forces lasted about an hour, injuring seven of the security force personnel from the 4816th Ranger Camp, with three in serious condition.
Approximately 500 empty bullet shells of the AK-47 and M-16 rifles were found in the hospital after the incident.
None of the hospital staff were injured, but the militants managed to escape, Prawit said.
He said that at about 5.20pm, a home-made bomb was blown up at a nearby bridge just when the security forces were trying to enter the shooting site, but nobody was injured.
He said police believed the brazen attack was linked to the anniversary celebrations of the formation of the militant group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) on March 13, 1960.
Another bomb was also reported to have exploded at Sungai Padi at 7pm, while an army camp in the Benang Seta district in Yala was also attacked, and several shooting incidents were also reported to have occurred in the Muang Yala and Yaha districts as at 8pm last night.
No casualties were reported.-- BERNAMA