Yala police probe pre-vote blasts

Yala police probe pre-vote blasts

Bomb disposal officers inspect a damaged ATM at a Government Savings Bank branch, one of the six locations targeted in small bomb attacks in Yala on Friday night. (Photo by Maluding Deeto)
Bomb disposal officers inspect a damaged ATM at a Government Savings Bank branch, one of the six locations targeted in small bomb attacks in Yala on Friday night. (Photo by Maluding Deeto)

YALA: Police forensic experts on Saturday examined six locations in Bannang Sata district following bomb attacks that injured two people in this southern province.

Maj Gen Supachoke Tawatpeerachai, commander of the Yala Task Force, said that suspected insurgents used small improvised explosive devices that were not designed to produce shrapnel in the coordinated attacks launched around 8.20pm on Friday. The devices were detonated by mobile phones. 

He believed the attackers did not mean to cause loss of lives but to instigate disorder in the area. “The attacks may have been aimed at sabotaging the constitution referendum on Sunday,” Maj Gen Supachoke said.  

The home-made bombs went off in front of branches of the Government Savings Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Yala provincial land office and the Bannang Sata municipal office, where a 49-year-old man and a four-year-old boy sustained minor injuries. The fifth bomb exploded outside a private home while the sixth was found hidden at the front door of a company but did not go off. The attacks damaged two ATMs and shattered some glass doors. 

Yala police commander Ittipol Adchariyapradit said officers were checking security camera footage at the two state-owned banks to try to identify the perpetrators.

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