February 9, 2005

Two injured in blast at Narathiwat hotel
Southern discomfort led to TRT `poll flop'

WAEDAO HARAI MUHAMAD AYUB PATHAN

Two locals were seriously injured yesterday in a bomb attack on a hotel

in Rangae district of Narathiwat.

Rangae district police rushed to Luang Heng Hotel, behind Tanyongmat

railway station on Rangae Mankha road, after being alerted at 10.30am.

They found a big hole under a staircase, and pieces of a homemade bomb

including nails, gunpowder and a handphone scattered within a 20-metre

radius of the hotel's tea room whose walls, ceiling, tables and counters

were damaged with shrapnel.

Customers Sanwi Dorloh, 32, and Chanhom Chuaysuengnoen, 45, sustained

injuries to their legs and were admitted to Rangae Hospital. They were

later transferred to Narathiwat Ratchanakarin Hospital in Muang

district.

The injured told police they saw two men wearing yellow and black

T-shirts walk in, order soft drinks, and leave shortly after on a black

and red Honda Wave motorbike, leaving behind a plastic bag under a table

near the staircase.

Moments later, the bomb went off.

Police believed the attack was the work of insurgents.

In neighbouring Yala province, Nimu Makajeh, deputy chairman of the

provincial Islamic committee, said the failure of Thai Rak Thai's

candidates from the Wadah faction to get elected in Sunday's general

election, showed that southern people wanted to see security problems

resolved through peaceful means instead of the use of violence.

The new government should therefore revise its policies and set up a

special organisation to tackle problems there with the people's

participation, Mr Nimu said.

Rorsidee Lert-ariyapongkul, chairman of the Muslim Youth Association of

Thailand, said election results in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat

reflected the people's desire for an ad hoc agency wherein people could

express opinions and propose ways to tackle problems.