High alert after rare ambush in Songkhla

Colonel Kriangkrai Srirak, commander of the 42 Ranger Unit in Songkhla, said all units have been told to go on a 24-hour high alert in areas from Tepha to Yala's Bannang Sta districts. Situating between the two districts are Songkhla's Saba Yoi and Yala's Yaha districts.

Simultaneously, security forces zoomed in on Thepa district's Tamhbon Pakbang after a group of militants ambushed a unit of paramilitary ranger while conducting foot patrol.

Sources said the top security officials were jolted by the attacks, which is extremely rare in this particular area that bordered between Malay-speaking region and the Thai-speaking area. 

Security units were called in to seal off possible getaway roads from Thepa leading southward to Yala's Yaha district, the hotbed of the ongoing insurgency in the Muslim-majority region.

It is believed that the attackers were non-locals but succeeded in establishing a cell in the Thai-speaking area, he said.

Police said The attack occurred while six paramilitary troopers were patrolling a road in Koh Laenang village in Tambon Pakbang of Thepha district at 8 am.

The two sides exchanged gunfire before the insurgents retreated.