YALA: At least one person was killed and 16 others injured when a bomb exploded in front of a police flat in Bannang Sata district of this southern border province on Sunday morning.
The explosion happened in front of a flat belonging to Bannang Sata police station at about 10.30am. The scene is in Bannang Sata municipality and is not far from the Bannang Sata district office and a market.
The blast's impact damaged glass panes and ceilings tiles in the flat and nearby houses. Authorities cordoned off the blast site for fear that there could be further bomb attacks.
Pol Lt Gen Piyawat Chalermsri, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 9, said the bomb was a gas cylinder planted in a blue Toyota vehicle stolen from a government agency on Saturday. It was registered in Betong district of Yala, and caught fire after the explosion. Adjacent vehicles were damaged.
At the blast site Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong later identified the dead victim as woman teacher Rokiyoh Sarana, 45, who was passing by the scene when the bomb was detonated. She was a native of Bannang Sata.
Of the 16 injured people, six were police officers and ten were local residents. Five were seriously wounded with shrapnel and glass. The injured people also suffered chest pain. They received treatment at Bannangsata Hospital.
The incident was the first car bomb explosion in the far South this year.
A forensic police officer looks for evidence near the blast vehicle in Bannang Sata district, Yala, on Sunday. (Photo supplied)