BANGKOK, 13 November 2004 — At least sixteen people were injured, including four critically, when three blasts rocked Thailand’s restive Muslim-majority south yesterday, police and witnesses said.
All 16 were injured in the first of the blasts yesterday evening when a remote control bomb was triggered in a crowded restaurant in the capital of Narathiwat province, according to a witness counting the injured at hospital. Two other bombs went off within two hours of the first but nobody was injured, according to officials.
The bomb blasts came hours after a Buddhist teacher was shot dead and raised fears of a major surge in violence following the deaths of 87 Muslim protesters on Oct. 25. More than 540 people have died this year in a separatist-inspired rebellion in Thailand’s southern provinces.
A police spokesman said the first bomb exploded at 6:20 p.m. (1120 GMT) in the Ungmor restaurant five minutes after a witness saw two men posing as clients plant it in the restaurant before riding away on a motorbike. “Initially we have 14 people injured from the blast,” he said, adding that four victims were in a critical condition.
Some 40 minutes later a second device went off in a general store at Tak Bai district, the scene of the disturbances that led to the deaths of the 87 Muslims.
A third device hidden in a drain in the Bacho district of Narathiwat went off at 8:15 p.m. (1315 GMT) but again nobody was hurt.
The bomb attacks followed the slaying earlier in the day of a Buddhist martial arts teacher. Police said the 45-year-old teacher from a Yala sports school was gunned down while returning to his home from a funeral.
Media reports yesterday said an independent commission investigating the deaths of the protesters had accused some security force members of firing directly into the crowd.
Commission member Isma-ae Ali told the Bangkok Post that gunshot wounds on seven of those killed in rioting at Tak Bai suggested not all security force members had fired in the air as the government had claimed.
