The pickup destroyed by a powerful roadside bomb in Narathiwat’s Rangae district yesterday. Seven Special Forces soldiers, including a major, were killed. All were shot in the head at point-blank range by the attackers who made off with their M16 rifles.

A powerful roadside bomb killed seven Special Forces soldiers in a brutal ambush in the deep South yesterday.

They were travelling in a heavily armed patrol in a military pickup on a back road in Narathiwat's Rangae district.

While most, if not all, of the soldiers were believed to have died from either the explosion or the ensuing crash, all were shot execution-style in the head at point-blank range by the attackers, who also made off with their M16 rifles.

The bodies of five soldiers were scattered at the scene, including one that lay about 15 metres from the roadside. Two bodies lay motionless inside the cab of the truck, which had skidded about 40 metres from the spot where the bomb was detonated by an electrical wire that extended about 30 metres into a wooded area.

The explosive material was estimated to be about 8 kilograms in weight, said a forensic policeman at the scene. "It appeared that the bomb was assembled extremely well," the officer said.

The bomb left a crater about 2 metres wide and a metre deep in the road, which was scattered with pieces of the vehicle.

Nearly 100 soldiers and police arrived at the scene to investigate the incident, while security units put up roadblocks and checkpoints as the hunt for the attackers was launched.

Officials nabbed two suspects nearby and detained them for questioning in a military camp in Rangae, said Army spokesman Akara Thiproj. The identities of the two have yet to be disclosed.

An official said the attackers appeared to have been alerted by an accomplice that the military truck was approaching the site where the bomb was buried. They then littered the road with spikes.

Mobile-phone signals were immediately shut off at the scene for fear militants would detonate a second bomb, as they have done in the past.

The victims were Major Veeraphon Yam-amphon, Sergeant Rachan Reunkosun, Sergeant Veerachon Srikert, Sergeant Somkiart Jongkit, Private Narin Klersom, Private Sombhat Phachan and Private Somsak Faithasaeng.

All were member of the Special Forces' Psychological Operations Unit, which has mainly carried out the Army's public-relations campaign aimed at winning hearts and minds in the Malay-speaking region, where more than 2,100 have died since January 4, 2004.

The explosion occurred near a hilltop where five militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces on March 2.

A public apology by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont for authorities' heavy-handedness and questionable policies of the past has done little to calm the situation in the restive region as militants step up their attacks. The PM is due to take a group of ministers to assess the situation in the South this weekend.

Don Pathan

The Nation

Ban Bor-ngor, Narathiwat