A farmer was seriously injured when a bomb went off in his plantation in the southern border province of Narathiwat on Saturday morning, police said.
Pol Lt Somboon Sakhon, a duty officer at Rangae police station, said 61-year-old farmer Chid Rattanaphrom sustained facial and right shoulder injuries. He was being treated at Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital.
Mr Chid told police that he saw a 9mm ammo pouch lying under a rubber tree. He picked up the pouch to observe it but it later exploded. Rubber growers nearby heard Mr Chid scream in pain and took him to the hospital.
Pol Lt Somboon said an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit discovered that a bomb was hidden inside the pouch and it was detonated when the farmer picked it up.
Police blamed the attack on southern insurgents.
About 6,000 people have died as a result of the sectarian violence in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat as well as Chana, Thepha, Saba Yoi and Na Thawi districts of Songkhla from Jan 4, 2004 to Dec 31 last year, said theInternal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Command. Of the dead, 3,461 were Muslims and 2,431 were Buddhists. Some 10,593 people have been injured.