05.09.09 Powerful Yala car bomb kills 1, injures 12
YALA : A border patrol police officer was
killed and 12 other people were injured in a car bomb attack in the
commercial heart of Muang district yesterday morning.
A police sketch of a suspected bomber involved in yesterday’s attack. MUHAMMAD AYUB PATHAN
The explosion took place at an intersection on Na Nakorn Road at about 9.40am on Friday.
The dead officer was identified as Pol L/C Jatupong Luamjantuek. The
explosion also wounded two other border police officers and 10
bystanders.
Police said an explosives-laden pickup truck was parked on the route
the border patrol police unit from Bannang Sata district took in the
morning to buy food supplies in Muang district.
The 20kg homemade bomb, housed in a gas cylinder, was detonated as the unit's vehicle drove past the intersection.
The vehicle erupted in flames killing Pol L/C Jatupong and seriously injuring the other two officers.
The explosion also damaged nearby buildings and vehicles.
Following the blast, Yala deputy governor Krisda Boonrat ordered
police to screen footage from surveillance cameras near the blast site,
but no evidence of the bombers was found.
Police have asked witnesses to help identify the suspects. Some said
they had seen the same pickup truck in the area a few days ago.
Local businesses said the latest explosion was a major setback to
the provincial economy which was already severely suffering from the
continued violence.
Yala police appealed to more than 6,000 people living close to the blast site to help police trace the suspects.
Also in Yala, two teenage boys were wounded in a gun attack in Yaha district in the early hours of yesterday.
In Pattani, doctors said two seriously-wounded victims from the
Thursday bomb attacks in Muang district, which killed one elderly man
and injured 31 others, were out of danger.
Elsewhere in Pattani, a village head and his teenage son were killed in Panare district around noon yesterday. Source: Bangkok Post, 05.09.09 http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/23284/powerful-yala-car-bomb-kills-1-injures-12
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