One killed, 70 injured in three Narathiwat bomb blasts

NARATHIWAT, Nov 4 (TNA) - A female village head was killed and more than
70 others were injured in three midday bombings Tuesday near a district
office in the insurgency-plagued province of Narathiwat.

The remote-controlled bombs went off simultaneously at an open air fruit
market and a tea shop near the Sukhirin district office, where about 300
local officials, civil servants of varied levels, were attending a monthly
meeting.

The dead woman, identified as Amporn Pui, was a village head in Sukhirin
district, one of hundreds of local village and sub-district heads and
civil servants who were leaving the meeting.

The bombings appeared to be aimed at the participants.

It was the largest attack in months in the Muslim-majority South,
occurring a week after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat visited the region
where more than 3,500 people have been killed since violence erupted anew
in early 2004.

Among the wounded, 12 sustained serious injuries and are hospitalised.
Three cars were destroyed while a number of other vehicles were damaged.

The first bomb was detonated by a mobile phone at fresh market near the
the district office entrance.

Police estimated that the primary 50-kilogramme bomb was hidden in a car,
which was engulfed in flames after the explosion.

Shortly after the first explosion, the second bomb went off at a tea shop
nearby the district office, and a third bomb was planted into a motorcycle
and was detonated near the tea shop, possibly intentionally targeting
those who were fleeing the scene of the first two explosions.

Emergency workers are tending to the wounded, while police gathered
evidence at the site, including fragments of mobile telephone SIM cards.

Speaking after a meeting with concerned authorities to tackle violence in
the far South, the premier, who is concurrently defence minister, conceded
that the incident was one of the main acts of violence yet to take place
in the region. (TNA)