PATTANI – Two police officers suffered serious injuries when a roadside bomb struck their armoured pickup in Pattani’s Kapho district on Friday afternoon. The blast forced the vehicle off the road and into a swamp.

A backup team arrived and rushed both officers to the district hospital. A doctor later confirmed that Pol Cpt Panakorn Intha died from his injuries.

Police said the officers were responding to a tip about a stolen motorbike, which came from a local in the Talotue Raman sub-district. As the truck neared the area, attackers hiding in the bushes set off a 15kg improvised explosive device buried beside the road.

Officers believe the call about the stolen bike was a trap. They suspect someone working with the attackers lured the officers into the ambush.

Violence in Thailand’s deep south has risen in 2025, with more than 20 attacks reported in the last three months. These include bombs, shootings, and other IED incidents. On March 10, 2025, separatists bombed a district office in Su Ngai Kolok, Narathiwat, killing both civilians and security staff.

Talks brokered by Malaysia have continued, but progress has stalled. A planned ceasefire for Ramadan in 2025 fell apart after the BRN separatist group made new demands. Fighting soon resumed.

The ongoing conflict in Thailand’s southern provinces—Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and parts of Songkhla—stems from long-standing ethnic, religious, and historical issues. Malay-Muslim separatist groups want more self-rule or independence from the mainly Buddhist Thai government.

This unrest, which picked up again in 2004, has caused over 7,000 deaths and continues in 2025.

The fighting is fuelled by feelings of ethnic Malay-Muslim identity, religious differences, poverty, and a sense of cultural loss under Thai rule. Attackers often target government buildings, schools, and security forces as symbols of state power.