Police yesterday were hunting for four suspects believed to have triggered three bombs at three separate karaoke bars in Narathiwat's Tak Bai district on Saturday night. The blasts injured six people.

Eyewitness accounts suggest at least four Muslims entered James Boy Karaoke shortly before a bomb went off inside, according to Col Paisarn Chaiyabutr, chief of the Tak Bai district police station.

The men may have hidden the bomb under a seat in the bar and detonated it with a mobile telephone after they left, he said.

Bombs exploded outside two other karaoke bars nearby, police said, but wouldn't comment on whether the bombers were the same group.

Paisarn believed the four bombers were still in the district and ordered a man hunt for the suspects.

The explosion injured two officers, Sgt Major Kittiphong Srikham and Sgt Samrith Wangsuk, and four civilians.

The spate of violence is ongoing after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on Thursday made an emotional plea for peace and apologised for mistakes made by the government under Thaksin Shinawatra.

Fresh violence broke out yesterday as three civilians were shot dead and a soldier wounded in four separate attacks in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces.

Private Thanin Kasianpromlap sustained injuries to the leg when his group was ambushed in Yala's Bannang Sata yesterday afternoon while inspecting a school that was set on fire Saturday night.

In another incident in the district, 61-year-old Pinyo Ployprasert was shot dead at 9am while riding his motorbike from his residence to an unknown destination. In Pattani's Yaring district, retired teacher Thanong Hemkaew was shot dead while cycling to see his relatives.

In Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district, a rubber tapper was shot dead at 8am while riding a motorbike to work at a plantation. When police arrived at the scene, Yusoh Mana, 50, was found dead near a rail track. He had been shot in the head.

The Nation

Narathiwat