Convenience store attacked with fire and explosives before police clash with fleeing suspected insurgents
A convenience store exploded as police clashed with fleeing suspected insurgents in southern Thailand.
Alleged Islamic separatists bombed the 7-Eleven store in Pattani as violence erupted across Thailand's deep south this week.
Footage shows fire ripping through the building at 8 pm local time on August 24.
Shattered glass littered the car park as residents stayed clear of the scene.
Officers from the Mayo Police Station were later dispatched. They clashed with the fleeing suspects in a brief gunfight.
Two suspects, identified as Afdol and Aris, were arrested at checkpoints while trying to escape through checkpoints in the area.
Both suspects were sent to the 43rd Ranger Regiment for interrogation.
Police said no officers or civilians were injured in the skirmish.
The Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Command said alleged insurgents had planted an improvised explosive device and set fire to the convenience store.
They found bloodstains and shell casings at the scene and were continuing to gather evidence.
On August 24, the Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Command said there have been 75 insurgent incidents across Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces since August 22.
Six men and five women were injured, while 17 buildings, 40 vehicles, 32 electricity poles, one phone signal pole and four CCTV cameras were damaged.
Islamic separatist terror attacks target the three southernmost provinces of Thailand - Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat - next to the border with Muslim neighbours Malaysia. Thai state employees and infrastructure are often hit while attacks on civilians are rare.
Officials believe the conflict dates to a deal in 1909 that the British Empire struck to incorporate the Muslim region into the Siamese mainland.
The region's culture is more similar to Malaysia and dramatically different to Buddhist Thais causing decades of tension that lead to the emergence of separatist groups fighting for independence in the 1960s.
The struggle has continued ever since with more than 7,344 people killed and 13,641 injured between January 2004 and March 2022.
The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office warns against all but essential travel to the region while Canada's government warns its nationals to 'avoid all travel' to the three provinces.
