Motorcycle Bomb Kills 1 boy, Wounds 10 in Pattani

Tthe insurgents hid an improvised bomb on a motorcycle near a commercial district in the city.

 

HAT YAI – Police say suspected militants in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south have detonated a motorcycle bomb that killed a 9-year-old boy and wounded 10 other people.

Police Col. Tuanday Juthanan said Thursday the insurgents hid an improvised bomb on a motorcycle near a commercial district in the city of Pattani and set it off during lunch break.

He said the explosion killed a 9-year-old boy and wounded 10 other people, all civilians. He said the boy died while being rushed to a nearby hospital.

The explosion also damaged seven cars and three motorcycles that were parked in the area.

Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only Muslim-dominated provinces in the predominantly Buddhist country.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra highlighted a recent breakthrough in the country’s southern insurgency. But with daily violence continuing, there is still much doubt surrounding a viable peace process.

But peace will be hard to come by when daily violence still roils the deep south despite this small positive move.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamist insurgency erupted in the sub-region in 2004.