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Published on September 6, 2007

YALA

The first bomb went off at the Weera Minimart in Bannang Sata at about 9am while people were shopping.

The store's closed-circuit television captured pictures of some teenagers carrying an object and leaving it near a refrigerator before it went off, said district chief Methe Kanchanapuwa.

 The five victims were slightly injured and admitted to a district hospital, police said.

Around the same time, a bomb hidden under a pickup parked near Yala city hall went off but failed to damage anything since its detonating circuit did not work properly, police said.

An hour later another bomb exploded in the parking lot of an apartment in downtown Yala. The bomb was hidden under a car belonging to a Southern Border Province Administrative Organisation official.

Like the city hall device, the bomb was not powerful enough to destroy anything as the detonator did not work properly.

There were some bomb hoaxes throughout the province, creating a chaotic situation through the day, police said.

Officials believe the bombs and hoaxes were in retaliation for one of the militants' bomb experts, Suhaime Sutae, being shot dead at the end of last month. Authorities are on alert for a huge series of explosions which might take place during the fasting month of Ramadan, from the middle of this month.

Pol Colonel Phumphat Pipatpetphum, Yala's Muang district police chief, said the militants had prepared as many as 200 bombs to rock the three southernmost provinces during the Muslim holy month.

Meanwhile, about 100 troops searched a village in Songkhla's Saba Yoi district for four hours and arrested two suspects with some weapons.

Muhamad Sa-ie and Solah Madlem were taken from Ban Koksilong to a military camp in Yala for questioning. They will be detained for some time in accordance with the emergency law, an official said.

The Nation