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Published on November 29, 2007

Yala

 Explosions rocked six locations, including a hotel and a parking area at the Southern Border Province Administrative Centre headquarters in southernmost Yala province yesterday. There were no injuries.

Shortly before 8 pm, the sixth explosion occurred in front of an elevator on the 10th floor of Yala's Chang Lee Hotel, police said.

The elevator's wall and ceiling were slightly damaged by what was believed to be a home-made bomb.

Four bombs were detonated separately between 8am and 9am near a vehicle dealership, a residence, the centre's parking area and a department store.

The fifth explosion was at a stationery shop.

Muang district police chief Colonel Phumphet Pipatpetphum said most of the bombs were faulty and exploded at less than full force. However there was some damage to property. The explosion at the centre parking area indicated problems with its security measures, he added.

He suggested the centre explosion could be "revenge" following the arrest of key suspected militant, Sukree Jehae, who was captured on Tuesday, he said.

"The suspected militant's followers might have wanted to show they remained dangerous," Phumphet said.

Sukree is allegedly a bomb expert involved in several explosions in the province, including a series of bombs at commercial banks last year.

More than 2,700 people have been killed in the Malay-speaking South since January 2004. Most the killings were carried by gunmen using small handguns, hitting their targets at close range. Co-ordinated attacks are rare but carried out every other months or so.

Separately, in neighbouring Narathiwat province, a man was killed yesterday afternoon. Abdulloh Manaseh, 58, was found dead on a Rusoh district roadside.

His throat had been cut and he had been shot three times. His arms and legs were slashed and a nail driven into his head.

A leaflet written in Thai script and left near the body said "this is the end of an infidel who sold out to be a military lapdog".

 The Nation