Four hurt as 3 explosions rocks South
Police inspect the scene of the blast that damaged the pickup truck of Pol Corporal Winit Nualpean in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district yesterday.
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The violence in the South continued unabated on election day as three bombs exploded separately in Narathiwat, injuring two soldiers and two police.
The first explosion took place at 3.10pm in front of Ban Yaning school in Joh I Rong district, 40 metres away from an election station. Police said that suspected militants tied a five-kilogram home-made bomb to a tree in front of the school and detonated it via cell phone while officers were closing the ballot boxes. The bomb critically injured two Army privates, Uthorn Kampookeaw, 23, and Praterd Mungthapklang, 23, who were patrolling outside the station, with shrapnel hitting their heads. The second bomb went off at a bridge in Ban Gue Rong, Tak Bai district, seriously injuring two police officers who were driving a vehicle carrying ballot boxes. Investigating officials said that suspected militants had placed a bomb under the bridge's supports, and the explosion injured Corporal Winit Nualpean, 28, and Corporal Sunthorn Sriket, 27. The ballot boxes were unaffected. Also in Tak Bai district, a third explosion took place at a pavilion in front of Bangkhunthong's tambon administrative office, 700 metres away from the Ban Khok Ngoo election station, but no one was injured. In Pattani, officials found boxes that appeared to be bombs at seven different poll stations throughout Mae Lan, Ma-Yor and Yarang districts, police said. The boxes were wrapped with glue paper and had mobile phones attached to them. Officials closed the election stations for one hour for security reasons, reopening them after the boxes were discovered to be hoaxes. Election officials at those stations, however, did not extend voting hours to make up for the lost time. The three southernmost provinces have been plagued by ongoing violence since January 2004, with more than 1,100 people killed in the almost-daily shootings, bombings and arson attacks. It is also a region where the Thai Rak Thai Party is very weak, after failing to have a single MP elected in the provinces in the last election.
The Nation Narathiwat
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