YALA: Three shophouses were destroyed in a fire yesterday which police believe was triggered by an insurgent bomb attack.
More than 10 fire trucks were deployed to fight the blaze, which quickly consumed the old wooden structures on Sukhaphiban 2 Road in central Yaha district.
Fire crews took two hours to contain the blaze, and damage was still being assessed as of press time last night.
One of the razed shophouses was a grocery store owned by Worawat Lohawichan.
Mr Worawat told police he was sleeping upstairs when he was woken by what sounded like two loud explosions coming from the ground floor of his shop.
Fire soon began to spread through his and the adjacent shophouses, forcing his family to evacuate. No one was hurt.
In Yala's Muang district, about two hours after the fire was reported, police found a roadside tree had been felled and left across Ban Ton Yo-Ban Thung Kha Road.
Not far from the site, authorities found a banner had been hung from a tree with a message promoting Pattani autonomy.
Officers believed it was the work of separatist insurgents.
Police officers who inspected the scene yesterday also found two pieces of a mobile phone. They believed an insurgent had used it to detonate the bombs.
Police also believe several litres of petrol had been placed near the bomb to fuel the subsequent fire.
Investigators suspect the attack was carried out by the same group that has recently been targeting local businesses in Yaha district.
Similar attacks were launched last week in the neighbouring province of Pattani, where bomb and shooting attacks killed three people and caused damage to convenience stores, a petrol station and an electrical facility in Muang district.