THAILAND: Rubber plantation blasts in Muslim south, kills one government official and a defense volunteer

Record ID: 357187

  • Title: THAILAND: Rubber plantation blasts in Muslim south, kills one government official and a defense volunteer
  • Date: 2nd June 2011
  • Summary: YALA, THAILAND (JUNE 1, 2011) (REUTERS) MILITARY OFFICERS SURROUND TRUCK
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand, Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA6OF8N3IUFQ17S4KWGMU7ZH0LJ
  • Story Text: Explosive booby traps laid by suspected Muslim militants killed two local officials and wounded four people, including a soldier, in Thailand's restive deep south on Wednesday (June 1), police said.
    The bombs were laid in three separate spots in a rubber plantation in Yala, the first exploding before dawn, wounding a rubber tapper.
    Two more bombs hidden in small cooking gas cylinders exploded as Muslim officials arrived to investigate the initial blasts, police said.
    Ethnic Malay Muslims represent the majority of the population in Yala and neighbouring Pattani and Narathiwat, the southernmost provinces of predominantly Buddhist Thailand. More than 4,500 people have been killed and nearly 9,000 wounded in violence since 2004.
    The region has seen a sharp rise in the number and scale of attacks in the past month, with Muslim villagers, soldiers, police and Buddhist monks among the victims of recent earlier incidents that included roadside blasts, a bombing during a soccer match and a drive-by shooting at a packed tea shop.
    Two suspected rebels were killed on Tuesday (May 31) by their own bomb, which exploded by accident when they tried to bury the device in a hole dug in the middle of a road in Narathiwat, police said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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