BANGKOK: Three bombs that injured 12 people in a town on Thailand’s border with Malaysia were likely planted by Muslim insurgents, police said.
Police Lt Traipop Donprailao said the bombs, connected to timers and concealed in parked motorcycles, exploded on Monday near a small restaurant, a karaoke bar and a hotel in Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province.
Four of those injured in the attack remained hospitalised yesterday, said one of his colleagues, police Cpl Ratt Chanthachalee.
Sungai Kolok has been the target of previous attacks. Its nightlife, including prostitution, makes it a “sin city” for visitors from across the border in Malaysia, where such activities are prohibited as un-Islamic.
A low-level insurgency carried out by shadowy Muslim separatists in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani has left 7,000 people dead since 2004.
The three provinces are the only ones in predominantly Buddhist Thailand with Muslim majorities, who complain that they are often treated as second-class citizens.
A large military presence in the region has failed to quell the violence, which usually involves bombings and hit-and-run shootings, but occasionally includes coordinated attacks. — AP
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