தாய்லாந்தில் தெருவில் முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் வைத்த குண்டில் 3 பலி

தாய்லாந்தில் முஸ்லீம் தீவிரவாதிகள் தெருவில் கையேந்தி கடைகளுக்கு நடுவே மோட்டார் சைக்கிளில் வைத்த வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்ததில் 3 பேர் கொல்லப்பட்டனர். இதில் 14 வயது சிறுபெண்ணும் அடக்கம். 17 பேர் பலத்த காயமடைந்தனர்.

Bomb in Thailand's restive south kills three, wounds 17
27 Jun, 2007 l 1957 hrs ISTlPTI

BANGKOK: A bomb exploded near a busy food stalls in southern Thailand on Wednesday, killing two adults and a 14-year-old girl and wounding 17 people.

The bomb had been placed on a motorcycle parked on the roadside near an intersection in Yala province's Muang district, said police Leutanant Somsak Saengsin.

Since, a Muslim rebellion flared in early 2004 in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, near-daily bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks have left more than 2,300 people dead.

A staff member of Yala Hospital identified the dead as a 53-year-old man, a 47-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl, all of whom were Buddhists. Four of the wounded people were seriously injured, said the hospital worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak to the press.

Earlier, on Wednesday police said the manager of a soccer team, 14 of whose players were alleged Muslim militants who died three years ago in a clash with soldiers, was himself killed.

Pitaya Maeprommi, 38, a Muslim and manager of the Thankhiri football team in Songkhla province's Sabayoi district was killed on Tuesday night by men who opened fire on his car with assault rifles, police Captain Somchai Chauybamrung said.

``He was shot six times, including in the head and the police are investigating the motive,'' Somchai said.

According to police, 14 young men in Pitaya's team were among more than a hundred machete-wielding Muslim militants who launched coordinated pre-dawn attacks on April 28, 2004, on 11 military and police outposts in Thailand's southern provinces.

Security forces killed 107 suspected militants, including those from the Thankhiri team in Sabayoi, 710 kilometers (440 miles) south of Bangkok.

Pitaya said at the time that the members of his team where not involved in the attacks, but that police suspected they were and killed them. He restarted the team a year later.