Ranger Yuthayong Mungthirat, 30, from Sakon Nakhon province in the northeast, was among six rangers gunned down in the southernmost Narathiwat province on Thursday after their pickup truck was struck by a roadside explosive.

On Saturday, Sakon Nakhon’s deputy governor Thawat Siriwattananukul took the royal wreath of HM the King and of the king’s mother Queen Sirikit to decorate his coffin during a ritual ceremony at a Saowat temple in the province.

Authorities and his family would hold a royal cremation for him on May 5 to honour Yuthayong, according to an official.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, HRH Princess Chulabhorn Valayalaksana and Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya also granted their respective wreaths to honour the ranger.

Yuthayong would be posthumously promoted to the top rank in accordance with his right and the Ministry of Defence would grant welfare to his wife and daughter. The wife would be taken into a position in the civil service while the daughter would obtain free education up to master degree level, according to an official.

Persistent violence has claimed more than 6,800 lives in the predominantly Muslim region since 2004.

The six rangers were killed while they were on a patrol in Narathiwat. No one claimed responsibility for the latest incident but officials believ the attackers were young militants from an unknown separatist group.