Blasts in South kill 1, injure 29
A decoy bomb attack by suspected insurgents left one person dead and 24 wounded at a packed roadside tea shop in the heart of Muang district yesterday morning.
A bomb ripped through the tea shop at 7.50am and the follow-up one struck a rescue team that arrived at the scene five minutes later, police said.The first bomb was believed to have been planted under one of the outdoor seats and set off remotely. The same eatery had also been attacked last month. The second bomb was hidden under the road divider. Abdulroya Chewae, who sold flower garlands nearby, was the fatality. In Sungai Padi district, a bomb went off at 6.45am in a street as a patrolling military vehicle passed by, wounding five soldiers, two critically. Police said suspected Muslim insurgents buried the 15-kilogram bomb under the road and detonated it with a remote electronic device operated by a plunger. The bomb dug a two-by-three-metre hole. The attacks came two days after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's third visit to the region since he came to power on October 1. In other violence, the bullet-riddled body of Theeradej Thotsakulyingpaisal, 52, was found next to his ice-cream tricycle in Yala's Muang district after a drive-by shooting. In Yala's Krong Pinang subdistrict, suspected rebels set fire to the home of Com Sgt-Major Abad Bahakiri, 45, damaging the front of the building, which is located next to Ban Lue Mu, and burning his pickup truck. Abad was on duty and his family was resting in the house at the time of the attack. No one was hurt. In Pattani, experts defused a 10kg bomb left next to a teashop in Sai Buri district. In Yarang district, six suspected militants raided the home of village defence volunteer Adam Yuera and made off with his shotgun.
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