Two soldiers wounded in powerful Yala market blast
Two soldiers and three civilians were wounded by a powerful bomb blast near a morning market in Yala yesterday, while a roadside bomb in Narathiwat injured three soldiers on patrol duty.
The attacks came as Council for National Security chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin made a two-day visit to the troubled region. The junta chief, the first Muslim Army head, met local religious leaders and military commanders on Thursday and yesterday.Police believe the market bomb, weighing about two kilos, was set off remotely by a mobile phone. All the victims were admitted to hospital. Police immediately blocked mobile-phone signals for fear of a second bomb as authorities combed the site for evidence. The roadside bombing in Narathiwat's municipality area injured three marines who had just completed a security detail for teachers and students at local schools. One marine lost his right leg in the blast. The bomb was buried at the side of the road and went off as the vehicle carrying the three men was passing by. A second bomb exploded almost immediately after police and a forensic team arrived at the scene. In nearby Pattani, a 54-year-old man was gunned down by militants in a drive-by shooting on Thursday night. Also late on Thursday, separatist militants in Narathiwat shot dead a Muslim man and then partially severed his head. The man, a 29-year-old local government official, was returning from evening prayers when he was ambushed, police said. The slaying was the most gruesome of recent attacks around the Muslim-majority region, where more than 2,300 people have been killed in three years of separatist unrest.
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