[LivinLOS]

Bangkok Post piece

Bomb explodes at Big C in Pattani

PATTANI: -- One man was injured and two cars were damaged after a remote-controlled bomb exploded at the Nong Chik branch of Big C superstore in Pattani's Muang district.

Another device exploded at the entrance to a teacher's home in Narathiwat, injuring one man and damaging several vehicles.

Elsewhere, a police officer's son and a former village headman were seriously injured in separate attacks.

At the Nong Chik branch of Big C, chaos erupted when a bomb went off in its car park at about 2pm.

The store's management immediately urged all staff and customers to leave the site and temporarily closed the store so a police investigation could take place.

The homemade device had been placed in a flower pot and was triggered by a mobile phone.

Earlier yesterday, a bomb exploded at the entrance to a teacher's home opposite a rubber research centre in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district. The bomb, believed to be targetting soldiers providing protection for teachers, exploded at about 8.05am when a protection team arrived. The teacher's home was slightly damaged, but nobody was hurt in the attack.

The impact of the explosion damaged a pick-up truck and motorcycle parked nearby.

In Pattani, a suspicious-looking box was left in the driveway of a defence volunteer. A bomb squad was called in to destroy the iron box left near the home of Vareesaran Daralanchakorn, 36, a defence volunteer from Yaring district. The box, weighing around 5 kg, contained fertiliser material, a stick of dynamite, iron rods, a mobile phone and a SIM card.

Meanwhile, the son of a police officer was seriously wounded in a gun attack in Narathiwat province. Theerapong Apipinyo, 17, son of Pol Sen Sgt Maj Piphat, was attacked at about 7.30am on the Tak Bai-Sungai Kolok road in Tak Bai district by two men on a motorcycle as he rode his motorcycle to school.

In the same province, a former village headman was shot and seriously wounded in an attack that took place on the Sungai Padi-Sakor road in Sungai Padi district. Arsae Hesamee, 73, was attacked by two men on a motorcycle while driving his jeep to the centre of town around noon. The pillion passenger sprayed several rounds at Mr Arsae, prompting him to return fire. He was seriously wounded in the attack. One of the assailants also suffered gunshot wounds, but managed to flee the scene.

Leaflets threatening to kill Muslims working under the government's job creation scheme were yesterday distributed in several areas in Yala's Yaha district.

The leaflets, written in Malayu and Thai, were distributed in tambons Patae and Katong in Yaha district. The leaflets attacked the government for using ``tricks'' to encourage locals to work as defence volunteers. The insurgents threatened to kill local Muslims who were working for the government.

Meanwhile, Pol Lt-Gen Somsak Bupphasuwan, chief of Police Region 8, said the issuing of the executive decree had driven many southern insurgents to seek refuge in the nearby provinces of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani. Police have been asked to monitor the situation closely.

Meanwhile, a source said there is a strong demand for second-hand Nokia 3310 mobile phones in the three southernmost provinces. Police were investigating whether or not these phones could be used in bomb attacks, he said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-02