Thai firemen try to extinguish a fire at the site of a bomb blast in Thailand’s restive southern province of Yala yesterday, leaving eight people injured
A car bomb exploded yesterday outside a bank in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued far south, leaving eight people injured, police said.
The blast occurred at 9.30 am (0230 GMT) in Yala, one of three provinces near the Malaysian border that have been under emergency rule since 2005.
“There was a bomb hidden in a fire extinguisher in a pick-up truck parked in front of a grocery shop near Siam City Bank,” a local police officer said. “It caused a fire in a nearby shop and injured about eight people.”
Shadowy Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in Thailand’s southernmost region since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, including both Muslims and Buddhists, in near-daily attacks.
Violence appears to have intensified recently: a bomb attack in Yala province killed nine villagers last month and an unusually bold attack by militants a week earlier on a military base left at least four soldiers dead.
On Thursday three people, including a teacher, were shot dead and their bodies burned in neighbouring Pattani province, in one of a series of gun attacks in the region last week.
Bangkok to reject UN help
Thailand will tell the UN Security Council there is no need for outside mediation to resolve a deadly border conflict with Cambodia, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
He said Thailand was confident that it could make a strong case at the closed-door meeting in New York today to show that Phnom Penh sparked the standoff over disputed territory, which has left eight people dead.
“We’re confident that we can explain that [Cambodia’s claims] are wrong,” he said in his weekly television address.
“Cambodia is calling for [intervention by] a third country, the UN and peacekeeping forces. Thailand will call for a return to bilateral talks on demarcation,” he said.
Thailand will present evidence including pictures and media reports to support its case and show that Cambodia used an ancient temple at the centre of the dispute as a military base, he added.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is due to attend today’s Security Council meeting, along with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong.
Thailand and Cambodia have blamed each other for the clashes around the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, which sparked four days of fighting earlier this month.
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen sought an urgent Security Council meeting and called for a UN buffer force to be put in place. Thailand has repeatedly said the dispute should settled between the two countries.
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