Wan Mohd Zain Wan Hussain, 46, from Kampung Ketil in Tumpat, Kelantan, was hit by a bullet about 9.30pm on Sunday.
Police chief Kol Phacharapon Na Nakorn said Wan Mohd Zain was riding a motorcycle at a security checkpoint when four men in a pickup truck opened fire at police manning the Ban Taba checkpoint.
“One of the bullets hit the victim,” he said. He died on the spot. His body was sent to Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital for post mortem.
No passport was found on him, so police are working on the possibility that he had entered Thailand illegally.
Police later found spent bullet casings from M16 assault rifles.
According to the report, police believe the attack was linked to the approaching 13th anniversary of the “Tak Bai incident” on Oct 25, when 85 Muslim men died after being arrested and stacked on top of each other in the back of army trucks after soldiers violently broke up an anti-government protest.
The report said a senior Thai policeman escaped unharmed when a bomb detonated as he led a team to the scene of the attack.
The bomb was planted near a gas station. The explosion slightly damaged the police vehicle carrying Pol Col Patcharapol Nakhon, superintendent of Tak Bai police station, The Bangkok Post reported.
According to the report, the blast brought down power lines and caused a local blackout.
The report quoted Patcharapol as saying the attacks were believed to be the work of Famee Mudo, who leads a militant group active in the district. He is a suspect in similar attacks on Oct 21, 2012.