YALA: Another rubber tapper was badly wounded in a bomb blast at a plantation in Muang district on Saturday morning. It was the third bomb explosion this month at rubber plantations in this strife-torn southern province.
A combined team of police, soldiers and local officials went to the scene at the plantation behind Tawan Ok village Moo 5 in tambon Lamphaya and found shrapnel and debris scattered all over the area, said Pol Col Thaweesak Thongsonsee, chief of Lammai police station in Muang district, who was reported at 6am.
The injured man, identified later as Chutipon Namwong, 47, had been rushed to Yala Regional Hospital earlier.
A police investigation found that the home-made bomb, weighing about 2kg, was planted under a rubber tree at the plantation.
When Mr Chutipon arrived at the plantation and was about to take a cup attached to the tree for cleaning, the bomb suddenly went off. The force of the blast badly hurt the tapper.
Police blamed southern insurgents for creating unrest in the area.
It was the third bomb blast at rubber plantations in this southern province. On June 28, Mrs Wipawan Plodkaenthong, 34, a latex tapper, stepped on a landmine and lost a leg at a rubber plantation in Yala district of this province. Officials blamed insurgents for the attack.
Pieces of metal and bomb materials are found in the rubber plantation in Yala after the blast. (Photo by Maluding Deeto)