Published on November 03, 2005

A bomb blast blacked out the centre of Narathiwat town for three hours last night as Muslims prepared to mark the end of Ramadan. Security troops also found bombs at seven other spots in the troubled southern border province but were able to successfully defuse them.

Two petrol-bomb attacks were also reported in the province, one at a cooking-gas depot and the other outside the provincial prison, leaving a pedestrian and his nine-year-old son injured.

Police blamed the attacks on Islamic insurgents, who have been waging a renewed separatist campaign in the deep South since early last year.

Authorities said the blackout was caused by a powerful bomb, which brought down a high-voltage power pole in Narathiwat’s Muang district at about 7pm and severed the connected power lines.

Over the course of the next hour, explosives were also found and defused at a gas depot and six other places around the southern city, police and district officials said.

The incidents paralysed the town as police sealed off all the roads into the district and ordered people to stay home.

Two of the explosives were found at a restaurant on Wichitbamrung Road and at the V2 Gas depot, which is about a kilometre from the main power plant. Each of the defused explosives weighed about 15 kilogrammes and was designed to be triggered by a telephone signal.

After police defused the bomb at the gas depot and left, a group of unidentified men lobbed petrol bombs into the premises, causing a fire among the gas tanks. The blaze was extinguished by firemen and local residents.

In another incident, police said a firebomb was thrown in front of Narathiwat Provincial Prison, injuring the father and his son.

The blast at the power pole and the other attempted bombings prompted security forces to order all mobile-phone signals in the province to be blocked to prevent any further attempts to detonate explosive devices.

The bomb attacks left people in the province in fear as rumours spread that more explosives had been found scattered all over the town.

Security troops had been put on high alert in Narathiwat and in neighbouring provinces ahead of the end of Ramadan amid fears of an upsurge in attacks at the end of Muslim fasting.

In the main town in neighbouring Pattani province, gunfire was heard, unsettling residents. Moreover at about 8pm, suspected militants threw petrol bombs into a police checkpoint in Sai Buri district, but no injuries were reported.

The power supply in Narathiwat town was restored at about 10 pm. Security troops set up checkpoints around the city and major roads were closed last night to prevent further possible terrorist attacks, police said.

The Nation

Narathiwat

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