Suspects fleeing the scene threw a grenade at another police officer's house, injuring him in the blast.
The car bomb exploded at about 11.30am yesterday on the ground floor space under a five-storey apartment building accommodating officers of the Si Sakhon district police station on Ban Khorawe Road.
A pedestrian was injured by shrapnel from the bomb and was taken to Si Sakhon hospital. His identity has not yet been confirmed.
The blast sparked a fire which ripped through the building's ground area, sending flames up to the second storey of the building and forcing residents to flee. Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 10 minutes.
Fourteen vehicles parked in the space under the building were damaged in the blast and windows in nearby houses were smashed by flying debris.
A Toyota Vigo pickup truck in which the bomb was believed to have been planted was badly damaged.
Bomb experts said the explosion was caused by a 50-kilogramme homemade bomb built from a cooking gas cylinder. It was detonated remotely by a mobile phone signal.
The explosion also damaged the building's electricity and water supply systems.
Witnesses said a man drove the pickup truck and parked it under the building before rushing off on a waiting motorcycle driven by another man.
Police stopped the two suspects about 100 metres from the flat, but they escaped after throwing a grenade at a house belonging to Pol Sgt Maj Sanit Kwansuk, injuring the officer.
About 30 seconds later, another group of suspects believed to have been hiding nearby used a mobile phone to detonate the bomb, police said.
Police were checking footage from nearby security surveillance cameras to find out who was involved.
In Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng district, Sathorn Damsong, 32, a former border ranger, was killed in a drive-by shooting by suspected militants near Ban Pesaputae yesterday afternoon.
Sathorn was riding a motorcycle on his way home when a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle shot him in the head
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