06-07-2025
Car found burnt out in southern Thailand
NARATHIWAT – A parked car without an owner was found destroyed by fire in Rueso district of this southern Thai province on Saturday night, with an investigation underway into whether the vehicle was used as a car bomb.
The Rueso Police Station was informed at 9pm of a fire consuming a sedan car, parked 300 metres away from the Balo bridge in Ban Bue Jo village 5 in tambon Sawo, said Pol Col Komsan Theekhakan, a deputy superintendent for investigation at the station.
Police, military and officers from the provincial administrative department inspected the scene and found the fire was dying out, leaving only charred remains of the car.
No locals near the scene claimed to be the car owner, said the authorities.
After the inspection, the vehicle was identified as a grey Nissan Sylphy 1.8, with almost-destroyed Bangkok licence plate 1กอ 397.
Meanwhile, the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Center (SBPPOC) on Friday had issued a warning of two sedans suspected of being used for car bomb attacks.
A Nissan Sylphy was one of the vehicles listed in the warning, and the other was a grey Toyata Vios. Both were reportedly purchased by insurgents.
The alert also named six high-risk districts in the South—Raman in Yala province and Muang, Rueso, Tak Bai, Su-ngai Padi and Su-ngai Kolok in Narathiwat.
Officials were instructed to carefully check vehicle identification numbers in the provinces as they could be painted over or swapped.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal and forensic teams were deployed to examine the scene of the fire and trace the possible route of the burnt vehicle, said Pol Lt Gen Piyawat Chalermsri, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9.
Reports from military sources also cautioned that the insurgents may have set the blaze to trick the authorities into an ambush, with the real attack set elsewhere.
The authorities said that although the destroyed car's details matched with the one in the warning issued by the SBPPOC, a detailed investigation was continuing to verify if it was the same.
