Yala, September 04: A powerful car bomb ripped through a town centre in Thailand’s troubled Muslim-majority south on Friday, killing at least one border policeman and wounding 12 other people, police said.
The device was hidden in a pick-up truck and detonated near a number of parked police trucks as officers bought breakfast in Yala, the main town in the restive province of the same name, they said.
“There is a large area of devastation,” one senior police official said on condition of anonymity. “At least one border patrol unit officer is dead and 12 people are wounded, including two policemen.”
Witnesses said three cars including the pick-up truck that apparently contained the bomb were completely burned out at the scene. Police said the bomb contained an estimated 50 kilograms of explosives.
The bombing comes during a spike in violence in Thailand’s southern provinces bordering Malaysia as the region marks the holy month of Ramadan.
–Agencies