The blasts in Pattani came a day after unidentified assailants set fire to 21 schools and raided a military armory, killing four soldiers in neighboring Narathiwat province. The government blamed Islamic separatist insurgents for those attacks. On Monday, two policemen were killed when they were trying to defuse a bomb planted on a motorcycle, parked in a lot of the Diana shopping mall. Another explosion occurred at a police box in a public park, injuring one officer. The independent ITV television station said the device was a time bomb set to go off at 3 p.m. local time. A third bomb was found in a telephone kiosk and was defused without incident, the police spokesman said. He said a fourth bomb was found in a gasoline station and police were trying to disarm it. No other details were known. Four southern Thai provinces including Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim dominated parts in the predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
| Quite by coincidence, that's where the explosions and corpses occur... |
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