PATTANI, March 11 (TNA) – Five people including two police officers and a two-year-old boy were slightly injured in a pipe bomb attack at a coffee shop located in a gas station in the trouble-plagued province of Pattani.
Upon examination of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, authorities discovered that four assailants rode motorcycles along the road behind the gas station before two riding pillion dismounted and hurled two pipe bombs into the coffee shop, where three officials were seated. Despite managing to evade the explosion in time, all three sustained minor injuries.
Moreover, the explosion caused injuries to a female customer and her 2-year-old son. They suffered ear discomfort and chest tightness.
About an hour later, the second bomb thrown into the coffee shop went off. Officials presumed that it targeted to harm officials investigating the incident. Howeverr, no one was injured in the second explosion, as the authorities delayed the inspection of the crime scene for safety reasons.
Despite efforts to track the assailants through CCTV cameras along the routes around the gas station, none have been identified so far, as most areas lack surveillance coverage, leading investigators to believe that the attackers deliberately chose blind spots. The police presumed that the attack was the work of suspected insurgents active in the area. – 819 (TNA)
