SONGKHLA/YALA - Two patrol policemen and one civilian were injured and two pickup trucks damaged in two separate bomb blasts in Songkhla’s Saba Yoi and neighbouring Kabang district of Yala on Tuesday morning.
In Yala, a home-made bomb planted in the middle of a section of Kabang-Saba Yoi Road in Kabang district went off at around 7.25am when a motorcycle and two pickup trucks arrived at the spot.
The impact injured the motorcycle rider, identified later as Ms Khorleeyor Sorlasor, and shattered the windshields of the two pickup trucks but those inside were were not hurt. Ms Khorleeya, 57, was later rushed to a nearby hospital. She told police she was on the way to a local market when the bomb went off.
The blast left a small crater on the road. Pieces of electronic circuit were found scattered over the road.
Bomb disposal officers said the bomb,weighing about 3-5kg, was put in a metal box. Police believed the attack was aimed at creating unrest.
A closed-circuit television camera installed in the area was found to have been turned to another angle. Police were collecting DNA evidence in the area to find the bomber.
According to Khaosod Online, local residents saw a teenager carrying a suspicious bag and placing it on the middle of the road in Kabang district of Yala shortly before the bomb went off. The teenager then walked to a road where Santisart Witthaya School was located.
The explosion in Yala occurred just a few minutes after a bomb exploded in tambon Janae of Songkhla’s Saba Yoi, an area adjacent to Kabang district, in which two border patrol policemen were wounded.
The bomb went off when an armoured car drove past a local road in tambon Janae. The impact of the blast injured Pol Snr Sgt Maj Somporn Sudchada and Pol Cpl Sittha Kawinpob.
The two policemen were sent to a nearby hospital before being transferred to Yala Hospital.