A gunman ambushed and shot at a Tak Bai volunteer late at night but missed, narrowly sparing his life. It was found that earlier, his father, who was a village security volunteer, had been fatally shot.
At 11:00 a.m. on 8 June 2026, Police Colonel Phakawat Wansanuk, Superintendent of Tak Bai Police Station in Narathiwat province, along with Police Lieutenant Pirapat Duangtud, an investigating officer at Tak Bai Police Station, and members of the bomb disposal unit from the Narathiwat Provincial Police Headquarters, as well as forensic officers from Narathiwat, traveled together to a house in Village No. 3, Sala Mai Subdistrict, Tak Bai District. This residence belongs to Mr. Muhamad Asuvi Mana, 36, a volunteer in the Territorial Defense Volunteers assigned to the Sala Mai protection unit in Tak Bai.
This was because Mr. Muhamad Asuvi Mana had been ambushed and shot at by a gunman at 9:57 p.m. on 7 June 2026. However, the bullet missed and struck a brick block wall behind the house. Authorities had conducted an initial inspection of the scene the previous night, but due to difficult terrain, they cordoned off the area to allow a more thorough investigation this morning.
Upon inspecting the scene, officers found one bullet hole in the brick block wall above a bench placed against the rear wall of the house. They determined the bullet was fired from a palm plantation adjacent to a scrub forest approximately 100 meters from the residence. However, no bullet casings from the gun used were found. Officers collected all evidence at the scene.
Investigations revealed that while Mr. Muhamad Asuvi, a member of the Territorial Defense Volunteers at the Praiwan base in Tak Bai, was sitting and talking with friends—who included a ranger volunteer from the 46th Ranger Task Force—and several villagers plus his seven children at a shelter extended from his house, he heard a gunshot near the wall. Debris from the brick wall flew off, alerting him that he was under fire. He shouted to his friends sitting on a wooden bench to duck down and turn off the lights. Then, he also took cover with his children inside the house for safety before notifying authorities to inspect the scene.
Mr. Muhamad Asuvi informed officials that in 2008, his father, Mr. Yali Mana, who was then a village security volunteer, was shot and killed by gunmen wielding M16 and AK automatic rifles about 50 meters from their home on a road near an alley. This recent attack is believed to be another assassination attempt targeting him. Fortunately, the gunman missed, allowing him to narrowly escape with his life.
Authorities believe the attack was carried out by members of an insurgent group who likely conducted prior surveillance of the target. Besides Mr. Muhamad Asuvi, the house was frequently visited by ranger soldiers and villagers, making them potential targets. The assailants appear to have deliberately chosen their victim, and the weapon used was probably an automatic rifle of some kind.