Another Yala bomb
37 civilians were wounded, six critically, when a bomb exploded in Yala's busy morning market on Tuesday morning. Southern militants detonated the device which was planted on a stolen motorcycle and parked near the market.
The market was crowded with food vendors and shoppers when it exploded at 06:40, said Yala Pol Col Poomphet Phiphatphetpoom.
The bomb was hidden inside a motorcycle, which was reported stolen the night before, and detonated by mobile phone, Poomphet said.
The attack on the market in Yala follows the violent attack on a Thai patrol in Narathiwat province on Monday which left eight soldiers dead.
The patrol was a protection unit for teachers which was surprised by more than 20 insurgents in the Chanae district of Narathiwat province, according to Army spokesman Col Akara Thiprote.
The insurgents first detonated a bomb under the army’s Humvee before executing the soldiers, one of which was decapitated. The patrol was returning to base after escorting teachers - who have been frequently targeted - to a government school.
It is probable the insurgents live locally in Muslim communities making it very difficult to identify them. ‘We really need some good intelligence to guide us,’ Akara said.
‘These people will bury their guns and turn into ordinary villagers before we reach them. It is not easy.’