Security personnel inspect the site of the bomb attack at a school in Yala province, south of Bangkok, yesterday.
BANGKOK: A twin bomb blast struck a school in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand yesterday, officials said, killing two soldiers and injuring one student in a new setback to peace efforts.
Education workers, and the troops who guard them, are a top target for Muslim militants who have waged a nine-year-old campaign of violence that has left thousands of people dead.
Authorities said that militants behind yesterday’s attack planted a first bomb to lure soldiers and then detonated a second device after they arrived at the scene.
“Two soldiers died and a male student and one soldier were injured,” army spokesman Colonel Pramote Promin said by telephone.
“The bomb was hidden under a bench near the security guard post inside the school,” he said, accusing the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group of orchestrating the attack.
The ongoing attacks in the Muslim-dominated region come despite several rounds of peace talks, hosted by Malaysia, between the Thai authorities and the BRN.
Thailand has about 60,000 troops stationed in the south.
AFP
