NARATHIWAT, Aug 7 – One Thai army soldier was wounded in a bombing targeting a military-operated school bus near the entrance to Narathiwat Airport Tuesday afternoon.
The bombing took place on Narathiwat-Baan Torn Road, less than 50 metres from the gate to Narathiwat Airport.
Weighing about 20 kg, the bomb was put on a motorcycle sidecar. It was detonated when the bus was passing, but there were no students in the bus.
The bomb squad cut the mobile phone signal to deactivate two more bombs in 20 kg gas cylinders, which were believed to target the bomb response team.
Regarding the bombing at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel on March 31, the court issued a warrant for another suspect, Jehma Wani, a suspected insurgent leader at the operational level. Two warrants had been earlier issued for the case, but all suspects remain at large.
As violence continues in the three Muslim-dominant southern border provinces, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra insisted the government’s strategy to quell the southern violence is on the right track and there is no plan to impose a curfew.
The premier will chair a security meeting on the southern insurgency tomorrow in an attempt to reduce violence in the region. She said the meeting was intended to improve the authorities’ operations and create more unity, she said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa said that the idea to impose a curfew will not be raised at tomorrow’s meeting, but intelligence work will be the focus, with assessments to be conducted every month.
