One police officer was killed and five others were injured in a recent bomb attack in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat, local news reported on 25 December .

The bomb exploded in an area opposite to a police station in the province and then a group of gunmen fired at a police vehicle.

The injured have been hospitalised after the attack. Some 20 kilogrammes of explosives and M16 machine guns were used in the attack.

The investigation is underway.

Conflicts have often occurred in southern Thailand over the past 10 years as groups of separatists demanded establishment of their own Muslim state.

Since 2004, violence in southern Thailand, including the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla, has killed over 6,600 people, mostly civilians.

(Source: VNA)