Narathiwat bomb explosion leaves senior police officer dead. PM wants security ramped up

The bomb went off at approximately 12.40 pm on Tuesday opposite a local school in the centre of Narathiwat at a police housing complex. The device was placed in a vehicle parked by a man dressed as an officer.

The Thai Prime Minister issued a strong statement on Tuesday in the aftermath of a devastating bomb explosion in the centre of Narathiwat in which at least one senior police officer was killed and another injured. General Prayut Chan ocha requested a meeting with National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat and asked the police chief to go to the southern province and take charge of the investigation to find those responsible for the incident which follows another attack last Tuesday in Pattani province which targeted state-owned petrol stations.

fatal-narathiwat-bomb-attack-on-police-homes — Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha (centre) issued a statement on Tuesday in which he called on security agencies to make all places in Thailand safe. The PM tasked the National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat (inset left) to go to Narathiwat and oversee the investigation to apprehend those responsible for Tuesday afternoon’s massive bomb attack.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha has ordered the National Police Commissioner General Damrongsak Kittiprapat to head to Narathiwat province on Tuesday following a large car bomb explosion in the environs of a residential complex for serving police officers with the Narathiwat Provincial Police in the centre of Narathiwat which went off at approximately 12.40 pm and which has left at least 10 people injured with one reported fatality, that of a police captain on the force.

General Prayut expressed his condolences and sympathy to the family of those injured and deceased in the attack which occurred opposite Narasikkhalai School in the Muang district of the southern province.

Bomb fitted in a vehicle parked by a man dressed as a police officer opposite the police flat complex

Initial reports suggest that a man dressed as a police officer parked a vehicle fitted with an explosive device outside the home of the senior police officer who died when it went off just opposite the flat complex.

Pattani bombs put Thai security agencies on alert as they gear up for APEC Summit in Bangkok

The prime minister is reported to have summoned General Damrongsak Kittiprapat, the National Police Commissioner, to discuss the attack which follows a series of incendiary devices which went off last Tuesday night at several state-owned PTT petrol stations in Pattani province, another one of four provinces targeted by an ongoing insurgency linked with Muslim separatists.

Officials at the scene exercised caution as army bomb disposal team first made sure the area was safe

In the immediate aftermath of the fatal bomb attack, it is reported that an army bomb disposal team was sent to make sure the area was safe before police began their on-site investigation.

Security services and officials on the ground are reported to have feared a follow-up operation by the subversives in such a situation which is a tactic deployed by the insurgency in the past.

General Prayut, on Tuesday, said that he was demanding that security in the province and other areas be improved so that people in Thailand, wherever they live, could feel safe.

PM demands the culprits are tracked down

The prime minister is understood to have underlined to the police chief the urgency of tracking down the culprits involved in this attack.

Deputy Secretary-general to the Prime Minister and key spokesman, Anucha Burapachaisri, earlier confirmed that the government leader had been made aware of the attack which caused widespread devastation in the centre of Narathiwat.

The roofs were blown off at nearly half of the flat block which was targeted while the fire services reacted swiftly to the blast and brought a fire under control.

The ground floor of the building was devastated by the blast.

Mr Anucha emphasised that restrictions put in place accessing the site were due to the need to make the area safe and also to preserve forensic evidence as police began their investigation to track down those responsible.

‘The Prime Minister has emphasised the importance of public safety. Wherever in Thailand, people must be safe. He has the security agencies to increase security measures,’ he told the media.