Attackers ambushed Narathiwat Task Force officers but misjudged the route, triggering a bomb that left a crater 1 meter deep and 3 meters wide. The soldiers survived the attack.
At 10:00 on 22 Feb 2016, Mr. Apinan Chachitta, District Chief of Chanae, Narathiwat Province, Police Colonel Weerasak Phosala, Chief of Chanae Police Station, Colonel Natthaphon Suntornon, Commander of Task Force Ranger 49, bomb disposal unit personnel from Narathiwat Provincial Police, forensic officials, and a combined police, military, and administrative force proceeded to the blast site. The location is a road leading toward the foothills of Ban Air Ja Seng, Village No. 6, Dusongyo Subdistrict, Chanae District. The bomb detonated at 11:50 on 21 Feb 2016.
Officers initially hesitated to inspect the site due to dense forest on both sides of the road, where attackers may have planned an ambush. During the incident yesterday, Police Colonel Weerasak requested support from the 4902 Ranger Company to secure the area. Authorities involved were called in to investigate safely later that morning.
At the scene, officers found a bomb crater in the middle of the road approximately 1 meter deep and 3 meters wide, with fragments of an improvised explosive device originally assembled inside a 25-kilogram picnic gas cylinder. The bomb was detonated using a battery connected by a long wire extending into the dense forest. Authorities collected the remnants as evidence. No injuries or deaths occurred.
Initially, Police Colonel Weerasak estimated that the attackers had covertly drilled into the road surface to bury the improvised bomb, aiming to assassinate Narathiwat Task Force soldiers who were delivering the Thai national flag to a private religious school in Ban Air Ja Seng, Village No. 6, Dusongyo Subdistrict. However, the soldiers took a safer alternate route. On their return trip, they used the original road, which the attackers mistakenly expected them to take. Seeing this, the attackers detonated the buried bomb prematurely.
Authorities believe this incident was perpetrated by members of an insurgent group intending to carry out daily assassinations of officials.