Coordinated attacks, bombings rock south Thailand (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Bangkok - Suspected insurgents launched a series of coordinated attacks in Tak Bai district, the southern border province of Narathiwa, Thailand on October 21, the country’s police force said.

According to acting chief of the Tak Bai police station, an improvised explosive device (IED), assembled inside a fire extinguisher cylinder, was detonated outside a gold shop in tambon Chehe, causing damage to the front part of the shop.

He said a group of unidentified gunmen also opened fire at a security checkpoint, about 50 metres from the gold shop. This prompted seven officers stationed there to fire back at the attackers, leading to a gun battle that lasted more than 30 minutes. The gunmen fled into a nearby forest after reinforcements arrived.

Officers later received a report that a roadside bombing destroyed a power pole about 200m metres from the checkpoint. They also discovered an explosive device placed beneath a power pole on the opposite side of the road.

On the same day, villagers alerted the police when they found two more IEDs along a local road in tambon Chehe, and authorities cordoned off the area. Later, police were later alerted to another roadside bombing in Tak Bai's tambon Khosit. The explosion caused 10 power poles to collapse, blocking traffic temporarily.

Meanwhile, in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat, Pol Col Direk Chomyong, the acting chief of the Muno police station, reported two incidents on October 21 morning - a homemade bomb was detonated and damaged a power pole in a village, and a bombing device hidden in a fire extinguisher was found beneath another power pole.

The incidents occurred on the eve of the 19th commemoration of the Tak Bai massacre on Oct 25, 2004, in which 85 protesters suffocated after being arrested and piled up on top of each other in two military trucks while being transported to a military camp in Pattani province.