Gunmen attack checkpoint in Thai south, one policeman killed

A group of at least five suspected insurgents launched gun and bomb attacks on Tuesday at police in downtown Yala, one of the insurgency-plagued provinces in southernmost Thailand, killing one police officer and wounding eight others, according to Thai media.

The first attacks saw the gunmen on the back of a pickup truck spraying gunfire over police officers at a police checkpoint in downtown Yala, killing one officer. Another police officer and two civilians were injured, the report by The Nation news website said Tuesday.

Ten minutes later, at another location in downtown Yala, a bomb went off on the major commercial Petkasem Road, injuring four police officers. The bomb was believed to have been set off remotely by a mobile phone.

Police said the attacks were the work of two separate militant cells who had coordinate their assaults.

Source: Xinhua