Two bombs hidden in motorcycles injured 13 people in Narathiwat’s Muang district on Monday while two rubber traders were killed in a gun battle in Yala as violence continued across the restive South.
In Narathiwat, one bomb detonated near the Muang police station with the other exploding in front of a lottery shop in Soi Lammai Uthis downtown, police said, as bomb-ordnance officers sealed off the areas.
Police said 13 people were hurt, including five police officers and one young girl. They were sent for treatment at Naradhiwas Rajanakarindra Hospital. Four houses and two cars were also slightly damaged.
Pol Maj Gen Pattanawut Angkanawin, the Narathiwat police chief, and Pol Lt Supoj Pongchuaydo, a deputy chief of the Muang police station, said, the two Honday Wave motorcycles used in the bombing carried fake registration plates.
Thamrong Keeratiwirojkul, the lottery dealer, said he saw a man parking a motorbike in front of his house before leaving on another motorcycle. He said he called police after the suspicion but the bomb went off one minute later.
The two blasts occurred only a minute apart.
Yala attack
Elsewhere, two rubber wood traders were killed in a gun attack in Yala's Muang district, police said.
The incident occurred at about 11am at the entrance to the Lam Mai tambon administration organisation on Road 409.
As Hamdi Tolubo, 354, and Yunu Late, 30, were travelling in an Isuzu Caribian jeep delivering rubber-tree timber to a school in tambon Lam Mai, they were followed by a group of men in a pickup truck.
While overtaking the jeep, the men in the truck opened fire at the traders, causing them to lost control and skid off the road, hitting a power pole. Hamdi and Yunu were riddled with gunshots and died at the scene.
Police suspected a the attack was motivated by business conflict, but did not rule out the possibility of it being an insurgent attack.
