The bomb, packed with shrapnel, was placed next to a pork stall inside a water pipe left behind by construction workers. Police believe the explosion was set off remotely by mobile phone.

Among the injured were two soldiers and one police officers. Police were scramble around Yala all days Thurday to defuse four other bombs placed at various locations in the city.

The incident came one day after suspected insurgents shot and burn a recent graduate Patcharaporn Boonmart, 26, apparently in retaliation to the Monday shooting death of four unarmed Muslim youth by a group of Village Defence Volunteers (VDV). Army's spokesman Colonel Akara Thiproj defended the actions of the Buddhist VDVs, saying the Muslims had provoked them by throwing stones at them.

In downtown Yala, some 200 angry residents vowed to continue their rally around the coffin of Patcharaporn in front of the City Hall until they get a personal assurance from army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont that security for Buddhists will be enhanced.

The dead woman's father, Kin Bunmat, who lead the protest, said he is not moving until his demands are met.

At the City Hall, a stream of mourners passed Patcharaporn's closed coffin to pray and light incense. A graduation photo of her was placed on top. A nearby chalkboard showed a tally of Buddhists killed in the south each month.

The gathering was the latest sign of fraying tempers among Buddhists in the Muslimmajority region where more than 2,000 have died since January 2004.

A young Muslim lady who asked not to be named pointed out that more than half of the 2000plus people killed since January 2004 was Muslims but their death don't attract the same kind of media attention or public sympathy as Buddhist victims.

She, too, pointed to the Monday shooting death of the four unarmed Muslim youth. The incident also ended in injuries of six other youths.

Col Akara's decision to defend the actions of the VDVs drew a storm of criticism from Muslim community leaders and academics, who accused him and the Army of paving the way for sectarian violence.

IN Hat Yai, speaking to a pack crowd at seminar, Chaiwong Maneepileuk, president of the Newspapers Association of Southern Thailand, accused the Army of trying to cover up the Monday shooting death of four Muslim youths. He said the Army decided to come clean after they realised they were unable to cover it up and blamed it on the insurgents.

"I am as a stake holder of this country and I don't want to see violence. But I can't report lies to the public. The consequence is just too grave," Chaiyong said.

The Nation