UPDATE: Sungai Kolok bomb hurts 6

UPDATE: Sungai Kolok bomb hurts 6

Six people were slightly injured in a bomb explosion at the Asia Hotel in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat on Saturday morning, police said.

There were no fatalities, said officers, responding to earlier reports that one person had died in the incident on the southern border town.

The five women and one man hurt in the incident were taken to Sungai Kolok hospital. They were identified as Bancha Wongnak, Passayamas Suwanchart, Supranee Somma, Sunisa Suaysa-ard, Sumsiya Useng and Ms Chinda (last name unknown).

Pol Lt Col Thaweesak Thongsodsri, deputy police chief at the Sungai Kolok police station, said he received a report of the bomb explosion about 11am.

A police bomb disposal officer inspects the blast scene on the third floor of the Asia Hotel in Sungai Kolok on Saturday. (EPA Photo)

Bomb disposal officers found that the bomb had exploded in room 306 on the third floor of the hotel, causing extensive damage to rooms 306 and 307.

Police found explosive materials on the floor in front of room 306. They suspected that a five-kilogramme home-made bomb, detonated by a mobile phone, had been hidden inside a steel box placed inside a trash bin in front of the room.

Hotel manager Ampam Wongtheerarith told police that two men in white shirts and black jeans had asked for a room on Saturday morning. About 30 minutes later, they went to room 306 and the bomb went off shortly after that.

Police suspected that the two men might have planned to use the room to meet with insurgents who would pick up the explosives for use elsewhere. The bomb may have been detonated accidentally after being placed in the trash bin.

Another theory is that the perpetrators intended to set off the bomb at the hotel to create fear and damage property, but that they did not intend to injure any people.

After the bomb attack, a large number of Malaysian and Singaporean tourists checked out of hotels in the border district and returned home.

Police questioned two 19-year-old men seen on closed-circuit TV before the explosion but they denied involvement and were released.

Sulaiman Yapa and Tameci Jeyor said they had rented a room at the hotel the night before as they had arrived in town late and there was no public transport to go back home to Sukirin district.

In the morning, around 30 minutes before the incident, they heard an explosion but paid no attention as their bus was about to leave.

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