The casualty count made it one of the largest attacks in months in the troubled southern provinces where smaller-scale violence occurs on an almost daily basis.A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of Yala city, said district police chief Col Kritsada Kaewchandee.
About 20 minutes later, just as onlookers gathered at the blast site, a second car bomb exploded, causing the majority of casualties.
Initial accounts of the attack cited three blasts with explosives planted in cars and motorcycles but officials later corrected themselves.
Several shophouses near the blast sites caught fire and many parked cars and motorcycles were damaged by the powerful explosions. Bomb squad officers were seen inspecting the mangled car wreckage at the site of the car bomb as firefighters doused blazes nearby.
Yala Governor Dethrat Simsiri said that the blasts occurred within a 100m radius and minutes apart in Yala city, 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," he said.
An explosion shook a hotel in the city of Hat Yai at the Malaysian border yesterday - not far from the bombings in Yala. [Ref]
ORIGINAL SOURCE
Content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.
No comments:
Post a Comment