Bomb in Yala market injures 25

The bomb, estimated to be about three kilomgramme in weight, was placed near a food stall in the fresh market in the Yala Municipality. Police said they believed the bomb was set off remotely.

Separately, in Rusoh district, fellow teachers said Suwatchai Ekthananond, the principal of Prachapattana Elementary School, and Monthree Jarong, were shot dead at close range by a gunman who approach them on the side of the road where they were waiting for the rest of the teachers to assemble as group.

It has been a standard practice for public school teachers in the deep South to travel as a group to and from the school for security reason amid an ongoing violence that claimed more than 2,600 lives January 2004.

Somjit Daengdee, a fellow teacher, said the gunshots could be heard from the school ground. The shooting caught everybody off guards, not knowing how to respond, she said.

She said some of the teachers were heading towards the direction but local residents told the teachers to get back because someone has been shot up ahead.

After a long while when all the teachers decided to check out the crime scene, they discovered the two victims on the side of the road down the street where they travel on a daily basis.

The school has twice came under arson attack, reportedly by militants who often targeted public schools to discredit the security apparatus and as a way to drive a bigger wedge between the state and local Malay Muslim population.