Bomb kills one, injures 20 in Yala

The bomb appeared to have been targeting the police and forensic officers who were lured by an earlier bomb that was much smaller.

Authorities were ill prepared as they carried out their investigation. There were no fire fighters or medical personnel in waiting. The blaze from the bomb set one officers from an ordinance unit on fire. His colleague desperately tried to put out the fire that had engulfed his entire body.

The use of second bomb by insurgents has become a common occurrences in the restive region where more than 2,300 people have died since January 2004.

The blast ripped through shop houses and convenient stores at a major intersection across the street from the train station. The bomb also rip up several motorbikes that were parked next to a public taxi stand for passengers travelling on the Yala-Bethong route.

The first bomb was hidden inside a helmet and placed on the motorbike's basket at the time it went off. The second one, much more powerful, appeared to have been set off remotely after several officers arrived at the scene.

Police Sgt. Subin Pruekmongkol, who was severely wounded, was later pronounced dead at the Yala Hospital.

Two other police officers suffered serious injuries, while three local reporters were also hospitalised.

 Thirteen passers-by, apparently permitted to observe too close to the crime scene, suffered minor injuries.

Insurgents often use one bomb to lure authorities to a scene where they then trigger a second blast, police said.

Bombings and drive-by shootings have become virtually a daily occurrence in Thailand's far south since an Islamic insurgency flared there in January 2004. The conflict has left more than 2,300 people dead.

The Nation