Quote:Insurgents killed seven soldiers in Narathiwat's Rangae district after bombing their truck. They shot at point blank the soldiers who were injured by the explosion to ensure that all were dead.

The soldiers were returning from a training session in an army pick-up truck when insurgents remotely detonated a 20-kilogramme roadside bomb near a school in the district.

The insurgents then shot at point blank the soldiers who were injured and scattered at the spot at the impact of the explosion. They then snatched the soldiers' M16 rifles and handguns.

Police in the area said the militants had scattered spikes on the road to prevent rescue workers from reaching the scene of the blast, which left a two-metre wide crater.

The attack came as Prime Minister Surayud Julanont is scheduled to visit Pattani, one of the troublesome deep south province, with his cabinet members on Sunday.

The Nation

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.

The Nation

CRISIS IN SOUTH

Seven killed in brutal attack

Special Forces troops hit by roadside bomb then shot in head; 2 suspects held

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

This is very, very sad,,,   My feelings, my prayers, and my sympathies go out to all the loved ones left behind.....   They have got to be hurting very badly..  I would imagine that because of the age of the troops, there are probably at least a few very little children that will grow up not knowing their dads,,,,,,  only as a memory

A couple things struck me about this tragic event.....

It happened yesterday, I read about it in the Nation today, and saw/heard a report on the Television,,,,, but I could find not a word in the internet version of the Bkk Post....  now I'm not saying it wasn't there, I may have missed it..... but I saw only where two troops were injured in the south.....

The second thing is the phrase in the Nation's reporting , that they were there to win over the hearts and minds of the locals, as the SF troops were from a PsyOp Unit......  a page out of the BUSH-ITERS Manual

When are the leaders of this world going to learn that you cannot win over the hearts and minds of any group, by putting them at the business end of a rifle.! !

You cannot beat people into sincerly coming over to your side....

Just for one minute, switch places with your adversary and think that if he did that to me,,,, killed my family,,,,, would I go over to his way of thinking.....    I really think not......

South Thailand, Iraq, or anywhere there is this type of strife.....

I don't know what the answer is......

But I know what the answer isn't ! ! !

RIP    Troopers