PATTANI: Seven people – five vendors and two police officers – were injured in three bomb blasts at the annual Red Cross fair in Muang district of this southern border province early Friday morning.
Police and explosive ordnance disposal officers rushed to the scene of the bomb blasts in front of the venue holding the Red Cross fair and the 2025 Pattani cultural and local products exhibition on Suan Somdet Road at Village Moo 6 in tambon Rumamilae, said Pol Col Jeffey Saimanakul, chief of Pattani’s Muang police station, who was alerted at about 5.30am.
A police investigation found that the first bomb went off at 4.44am inside a security booth at the entrance of the Pattani provincial tourism and sports office. The force of the blast caused minor damage to the security booth.
Shortly afterwards, the second and third bombs exploded about 400 metres away from the first site. The explosives were hidden inside the bases of streetlight poles near vending store tents along the roadside, about 100 metres from the fair’s entrance.
The explosions toppled two streetlight poles. Bloodstains were scattered across the road.
Seven people – five vendors and two police officers – were injured in the bomb attacks. All were rushed to Pattani Hospital and were in stable condition. The five injured vendors – three men and two women – were identified as Sorleehee Duerame, who sustaining a hip injury; Usa Yuden with a left leg injury; Ms Somsri Yuden with a hand injury with bone deformation; Ms Yupha Yuden with a minor left leg injury; and Weerachi Sae Chin with a lip injury.
The two other injured officers were Pol Snr Sgt Maj Atthawut Na Sngkhla and Pol Sgt Sahaparp Passa, both of whom suffered chest pain.
Police found bomb fragments at the scene and there was partial damage to vendor stalls.
When the explosions occurred, most vendors were sleeping or resting in their stalls or tents. Police and volunteers beefed up security at the venue.
According to a preliminary investigation, the first bomb went off at 4.44am, followed by a second at 5.19am, and a third at 5.30am. The blasts caused panic among vendors who rushed out of their tents.
Pol Maj Gen Santhat Chuephuttan, chief of Pattani police, said the investigation found that at least 5-10 suspects were involved in the bomb attacks.
They divided into two teams to carry out the attacks. One group entered the area after midnight by scaling a wall near the sports field and planted a home-made explosive device inside the unmanned security booth. The second group planted the two other bombs at the bases of streetlight poles before fleeing.
Authorities cordoned off the area and deployed forensic and investigative teams to examine CCTV footage to find clues about the attackers and their possible escape routes.