Police lieutenant murdered in forest one day after transfer orders. Insurgents bombed a convoy carrying his body, injuring two. Attack linked to BRN as violence escalates in Thailand’s south, despite earlier peace hopes with Malaysian-based militants.
Southern insurgents on Wednesday murdered a 40-year-old police lieutenant in a remote forested area. Afterwards, the insurgency groups laid a trap. They exploded a massive roadside bomb in the early hours of Thursday morning as a police and military convoy with the remains was in transit. The complex attack meant that an evidence-gathering operation later on Thursday involved radio jamming and bomb searches 200 metres out from the site. It is the latest attack in a security situation in southern Thailand that has deteriorated since the start of 2025, despite hopes for peace talks. The murdered policeman had been ordered transferred the day before.
On Thursday, in a cautious and methodically planned operation, Narathiwat Police were able to gather evidence at the scene of a murdered officer on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, 40-year-old Police Lieutenant Amorn Apmaraka, an officer with the Narathiwat Provincial Police, had travelled to a forested area late in the afternoon. Previously, he had left his home in the tambon Pasemas, in Su-ngai Kolok district.
Later, his 32-year-old wife Ms Sanora Mama unsuccessfully tried to reach him on his smartphone.
Helicopter and ground team launch search for officer feared missing in southern forested region
Afterwards, a team responded to the situation. They included Police Colonel Mataha Muhana, chief of Su-ngai Padi Police Station, and Colonel Panjapol Traphboworn, commander of Task Force 48. Basically, there was concern that something untoward had happened to the officer.
Indeed, the responding unit included a convoy of six vehicles, later seven. At the same time, they employed overhead aircraft cover in the form of a helicopter from the Narathiwat Task Force.
Afterwards, the group arrived to find the Toyota Yaris sedan car burned out. Following a further search, they discovered the body of Police Lieutenant Amorn. He was dead, the officer was shot through the right eye socket. The bullet had afterwards exited through the back of his head.
At the same time, the police officer’s 9mm handgun was also missing.
Police convoy escorting officer’s body home struck by a large roadside bomb hidden under the surface
Certainly, the force moved to retrieve the fallen policeman’s body. The expedition set out at 10:28 pm and had decided to take a special route back. One of the vehicles was a white pickup van driven by Petty Officer 1st Class Tanongsak Sawangwari. Also inside the pickup van was Mr. Wari Samatthanak of Tak Bai district in Narathiwat.
The convoy then set out with Police Lieutenant Amorn’s body.
However, as the convoy was proceeding home to Ban La Lae Luwat, Village 7, Riko Subdistrict, the pickup truck was hit by a massive explosion. Eventually, the bomb left a crater in the road. Indeed, the device was placed under the road surface. It was detonated as the white pickup, the last in the convoy, passed.
Officers later confirmed that insurgents were hidden in foliage not far from the explosion. Both occupants of the white pickup were subsequently reported hurt.
Authorities treat the wounded and return to secure the crime scene with jamming and sniffer dog operation
Afterwards, the body of Police Lieutenant Amorn was taken to Su-ngai Padi Hospital for an autopsy. Both Petty Officer Tanongsak and Mr. Wari were treated at the facility. The military officer was kept at the hospital for further observation.
Therefore, on Thursday morning, a meeting of the Narathiwat Task Force was held at the old Su-ngai Padi Police Station conference room. In turn, a careful expedition returned to the scene with sniffer dogs and other precautions. For security reasons, radio jamming operations were deployed to block any mobile phone signals.
Additionally, suspicious objects some 200 meters from the scene were also probed and cleared.
Meanwhile, sniffer dogs were deployed as police scoured the area where Police Lieutenant Amorn was murdered. Certainly, they discovered an area of grass where the perpetrators had attacked the officer from.
Transfer orders came a day before the killing as an attack linked to the BRN insurgency group’s violent campaign
Meanwhile, several officers later revealed that on Tuesday the 8th, Police Lieutenant Amorn had received transfer orders. The diligent officer was originally from Nakhon Pathom. He had been ordered transferred to a role as Deputy Investigation Chief at Muang Loei Police Station, a relatively quiet province in Thailand’s northeast.
Analysts believe that the carefully orchestrated attack on Wednesday was the work of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). Certainly, since the beginning of 2025, the insurgency group’s activities have become more lethal and violent.
40-year-old woman survives a bomb which turned her small car into a raging inferno in Pattani province
Bomb attacks in Narathiwat just a week before the Tak Bai massacre anniversary injures eight security force personnel
This has, in turn, led to calls for a security crackdown and stronger anti-terror laws. This is despite hopes at the end of last year that peace could be brokered between the Pheu Thai government and the groups headquartered in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, which borders Narathiwat.
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Further reading:
Lawyer calls for prosecution of top officials in the Tak Bai case as PM rules out Emergency Degree
Pheu Thai MP and former army commander in the South out of the country safe from an arrest warrant
Narathiwat bomb explosion leaves one senior police officer dead. PM demands tighter security
Pattani bombs put Thai security agencies on alert as they gear up for APEC Summit in Bangkok
Top insurgent leader suspected as behind Monday night’s large bomb attack on Pattani district
