January 16, 2005

Phone bomb kills owner of Yala noodle shop, 47 hurt

 POST REPORTERS

 One man was killed and 47 people were injured when a bomb triggered by a

mobile phone exploded at a noodle shop in Yala municipality yesterday

afternoon.

 The bomb, hidden in a briefcase, went off at 1.13pm at Kaokuek noodle shop

on Thesaban 3 road. Shop owner Ket Rattanason, 40, died on the way to

hospital.

 Eight customers were seriously hurt, including two policemen. The shop was

badly damaged.

 Among the seriously injured were Pol Lt Itthi Bunyarit of Yala police and

Pol Sub-Lt Suksan Sudsanga of Sukhirin police in Narathiwat.

 The injured, who were local teachers, residents and children aged 4-9

years, were sent to Yala provincial hospital and Siroros hospital.

 Police arriving at the scene found another bomb planted near a motorcycle

in front of the shop. A bomb disposal team was called in to defuse it.

 According to police, two men had eaten noodles in the shop. After eating,

they left a briefcase under a table. The owner, Ket, saw the briefcase and

thought the two men had forgotten it. The bomb exploded as the shop owner

picked it up.

 Police said it was likely the bomb targeted police and officials who were

regular customers at the shop. They said the explosion might be the work of

Muslim separatists.

 This follows reports that separatists planned 20 bomb attacks on government

offices, shops, railway stations and bus terminals in the three southern

border provinces, to take revenge for the arrest of eight Muslim religious

teachers in Pattani and Yala.

 Meanwhile, owners of food shops where police and soldiers are regular

customers have asked security officers not to visit their businesses,

fearing they might be targeted by bombers.

 Security officers had decided to not eat at these shops, citing concerns

for public safety, a source said.

 The source added that Muslim separatists had threatened to take the lives

of 17 defence volunteers in Yala province if they don't withdraw support for

police.

 Police have launched a manhunt for 21 religious teachers accused of

treason. Most of the teachers are from Thamwittaya and Islamic Witthaya

schools in Yala's Muang district.

 The Department of Special Investigation has also been investigating about

100 foreign religious teachers who taught Islam in the deep South.

 A source said about 20 of the teachers, from Indonesia, Jordan, Syria and

Libya, are thought to have urged Muslim youths to carry out violent acts.