Vice governor of Narathiwat, Niphan Naraphitakkul, said one bomb was hidden near the meeting venue where kamnans, village chiefs and local officials from Sukirin district were gathering for their monthly meeting. The explosion ripped through a nearby teashop.

The explosion went off as the local officers were leaving the meeting venue and heading to their personal vehicles. This suggested that the person who detonated the bomb had his targets in sight, said Niphan.

The bomb may have been hidden in one of the participants’ vehicle or placed near the vicinity of the crime scene, Niphan said.

At a nearby outdoor fruit market in the same district, two bombs went off simultaneously. The breakdown of injuries at these two locations was made available.

It was not clear if any of the injured from the two incidents has succumbed to death. Victims were rushed to hospitals in Sungai Kolok and Sukirin districts of Narathiwat.

It appeared that the culprits had a clear site of the target as the bomb went off just moments after the meeting had concluded and the officers were heading to their cars, officials said.

Sukirin district chief, Worachet Promopart, said violent incident in his district is quite low compared to other areas in the Muslim-majority deep South.

“We have received briefing from intelligence officials warning against attacks on government installations in Narathiwat’s Muang district but they said nothing about Sukirin,” Worachet said.

Director of the Deep South Watch, a centre at the Prince of Songkhla Univeristy in Pattani, Associated Professor Srisompob Jitpiromya, said since January 2004, the ongoing violence stemming from this wave of insurgency have claimed almost 3,200 people and injured 5,226 in the Malay-speaking region of Thailand’s southernmost provinces.

Srisompob said the government has become complacent over this past year because of the drop in the number of violent incidents. However, the level of uncertainty and insecurity are still very high.

The problem with the Thai government is that they don’t treat the insurgency in the deep South as a conflict but an issue of law and order that can be handled by the military alone, Srisompob said.

“If you look around the world, governments with similar problems agreed that these conflict must have political solution,” Srisompob said.

Moreover, said Srisompob, political instability in the country has added to the problem in the restive region as political leaders placed their priority elsewhere.

While most of the bomb attacks in the deep South were carried out in the form of roadside attack against military patrol, the few that have emerged in the restive region have had devastating effect on security apparatus. These powerful blasts also chipped away government’s credibility and the so-called claim that the situation has improved.

* The Nation.

Bomb blasts kill 11 in southern Thailand

Muslim separatists blamed for three explosions that have killed at least 11 people and wounded a further 110 in Yala.

At least 11 people have been killed and 110 wounded in co-ordinated bomb attacks by suspected Muslim insurgents in the main shopping area of a city in southern Thailand.

The casualties made it one of the largest attacks in months in the troubled southern provinces where smaller-scale violence occurs on an almost daily basis.

Three blasts occurred minutes apart within a 100-metre radius in Yala, a main commercial hub of Thailand’s restive southern provinces.

“We are not sure which group of suspected Muslim insurgents were behind this but we are looking,” said Yala Governor Dethrat Simsiri.

The first bomb was hidden inside a motorcycle parked near a shopping area and detonated by a mobile phone at about noon, the governor said.

Within minutes, a second bomb hidden in another motorcycle exploded, followed by a third explosion from a device placed in a car that set fire to nearby buildings, he said.

Such bombings are a common tactic employed by Islamist separatists who have been waging an insurgency in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since early 2004. The violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

The suspected insurgents mainly target soldiers, police and other symbols of authority with roadside bombs and drive-by shootings, but have also staged large co-ordinated attacks in business districts.

Last September, three bombs hidden in vehicles hit a busy section of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province, killing four people and leaving more than 60 wounded.

Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim-dominated provinces in the predominantly Buddhist country. Muslims in the area have long complained of discrimination by the central government.

The insurgents have made no public pronouncements but are thought to be fighting for an independent Muslim state. The area used to be an Islamic sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20^th century.

Damien Pearse and agencies

• The Guardian, Sat 31 Mar 2012 13.10 BST First published on Sat 31 Mar 2012 13.10 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/31/thailand-bomb-blasts-yala