The bomb was hidden on a motorbike parked by the side of the road near a busy intersection, police said.

In Tambon Lamai in Yala's Muang district, a banana seller, Thawee Sanguan-thanawit, 56, was shot dead by a gunman who was pretending to be a customer.

In Narathiwat municipality, three bombs exploded simultaneously, damaging three shop houses, but no deaths or injuries were reported.

Police believed the bombs came from the same source. They were built into a milk carton and placed on shelves in the stores.

One store had footage from its closed-circuit television camera of a suspect, police said.

In nearby Sungai Padi district, a combined force of 300 security officers raided more than 20 locations, detaining at least 24 people for questioning. The arrests yesterday followed the detention of 51 other suspects during a raid over the weekend.

In Yala's Tambon Bango Yasinae, arsonists set fire to a 13-year-old cooperative belonging to a local women's group. The group had a membership of 75 and generated regular income for about 600 local residents.

Meanwhile, in Yala's Muang district, about 200 local residents, including some Buddhist monks, staged a public protest, calling on the Ninth Police Region not to transfer Colonel Pitak Eurd-koew, the superintendent in charge of crime investigation.

No public explanation has been given as to why Pitak was abruptly transferred to Patthalung.

The Nation

Yala