Vehicle bomb kills 2, hurts 31 in Thailand's south
Associated Press – 28 minutes ago
HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — A bomb hidden in a pickup truck exploded in a commercial district in Thailand's violence-plagued south on Friday, killing two people and wounding 31 other civilians, police said. Another bomb targeting soldiers injured four.
Suspected insurgents detonated the improvised explosive device while the pickup truck was parked across from a hotel in Yala province's Betong district, police Col. Wasan Phuangnoi said.
He said a woman and a man were killed, and 31 other civilians, including a foreigner, were wounded in the explosion that also damaged other vehicles and set fire on buildings.
Also Friday, four soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb that exploded in front of a school in Sukhirin district in Narathiwat province, according to Police Col. Somchai Panom-uppakarn. The four were on duty to protect teachers.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces since an Islamic insurgency erupted in 2004. The insurgents often target soldiers, police and civil servants such as teachers, but civilians, both Buddhist and Muslim, bear the brunt of the attacks.
Betong is one of the few areas where attacks have been infrequent. The last major incident in the town was in 2006, when militants planted bombs at six commercial bank branches.
A spurt of attacks has occurred since the Ramadan holy month began at the end of June.
On Wednesday, another bomb hidden in a pickup truck killed two women and wounded eight other civilians near a cockfighting ground in Pattani province's Kok Pho district.
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