BANGKOK: A car bomb exploded yesterday outside a hotel in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand, killing three people and wounding 36, police said.
Of the wounded, three were in critical condition, Lieutenant Colonel Sophon Saisuree said by telephone from Betong in Yala province where the blast happened.
“A car bomb went off in front of Holiday Hotel at around 4pm,” he said.
“We had been informed that there would be unrest in the deep South near the end of Ramadan,” Sophon added.
More than 6,100 people have been killed in near-daily bombings and shootings in the Muslim-majority region near Thailand’s southern border with Malaysia since 2004.
Buddhists and Muslims alike fall victim to the shadowy militants, who target security forces, civilians and perceived representatives of state authority.
Peace talks between some rebel factions and the Thai authorities stalled as a political crisis erupted in Bangkok last year, culminating in a military coup in May.
AFP
