Armed men blew up an ATM at Fatoni University and stole the security guards’ guns in Yarang district of this southern border province early Tuesday morning.
According to the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc), up to five armed men were involved.
About 12.53am they arrived by walking down a hill behind the university in tambon Khao Toom. They held up and tied the two security guards in their booth in front of the campus and robbed them of their shotguns.
The assailants then detonated an explosive against an ATM of the Islamic Bank beside the university gate. It failed the open up the machine and they could not get to the cash in its strongbox.
They finally gave up and retreated back up the hill with only the guards’ stolen weapons.
Isoc said the failed attack showed that the militants were desperate for money to support their activities, regardless of the public interest. The investigation and hunt for the gang were ongoing, Isoc’s southern branch said.
The failed ATM attack came two days after the huge gold heist in adjacent Narathiwat province, which officials believe was for use funding rebel activities. That followed coordinated ATM robberies in August and a major gold shop raid in Songkhla in 2019.