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| Southeast Asia |
| Bomb kills two in southern Thailand ahead of ahead of leaders' visit |
| 2009-12-07 |
| A bomb has ripped through a market in Thailand's south, killing two people and wounding nine just days before the Malaysian and Thai premiers visit the region, police say. The blast happened a kilometre from a hotel where Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his visiting Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, were to have lunch during a trip to the region tomorrow. "The bomb was hidden in the gas tank of a motorcycle. A Buddhist woman and a Buddhist man were killed in the blast and nine people were hospitalised, three of them in a critical condition," a police official said. "The militants apparently wanted to show their potential before the two prime ministers visit the region on Wednesday. They wanted to show that they can still carry out attacks despite the security." Najib was due to arrive in Bangkok late yesterday before he and Abhisit travel to the south tomorrow. They are to attend the renaming of a "friendship bridge" spanning the countries' river border and visit an Islamic school. The bomb that went off was believed to have contained about nine kilos of explosives and was detonated remotely by a mobile phone signal, officials said. It damaged about 15 motorcycles parked nearby, destroyed a wall and left a crater a metre wide while a plume of smoke rose into the air, witnesses said. Separately, a Muslim imam was killed and four others were wounded in shooting attacks in neighbouring Pattani province yesterday, police said. Intelligence officials in the region said there had been strong warnings of high-profile The unprecedented visit by the two leaders is meant to present a united front in the face of the mounting insurgent crisis. Analysts said while the visit might be short on concrete results it could provide moral support for Abhisit as he attempted to honour his pledges to find a political solution to the uprising. Thailand has in the past accused Malaysia of failing to prevent insurgents crossing the porous 650-km border and of allowing militant leaders to operate from exile in northern Malaysia. But since Najib came to power in April the rhetoric has softened. In October he called on Thailand to offer "some form" of autonomy to the restive region, a proposal backed by Abhisit, who called it the "right approach". |
| Posted by:ryuge |