Thai flag lures soldiers to booby-trap

[News Bandit]

NARATHIWAT, Sept 6 - Twelve Thai army soldiers on foot patrol in Narathiwat narrowly escaped death or maiming by a booby trap bomb when a Thai flag appealed to their sense of order and respect.

A national flag was draped on a tree is an inappropriate manner, and the soldiers, being both patriotic and proper, wished to restore the banner to dignified use.

The solders became aware of the booby-trap rigged explosive and defused the half kilogramme bomb in a large sardine tin conveniently placed beneath the flag as an apparent step to reach the banner. Stepping on the tin would trigger the explosive.

Narathiwat police and bomb squad said the suspicious item buried in a Tanyong Mat's Ra-Ngae district roadside with a blinking red light was a home made bomb. The Thai national flag tied on a nearby branch was to lure the security patrol.

In an unrelated incident, a villager was seriously wounded when she stepped on a booby trap at work in a rubber plantation in Tanyong Limo's Ra-Ngae district.

The unidentified victim's left ankle was nearly torn off by the blast. She was sent to hospital where she is being treated.

Police said the booby trap was a one kilogramme homemade bomb triggered by stepping on it. (MCOT online news)

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