Bomb found, disarmed outside Narathiwat bank
An explosive ordnance disposal team yesterday defused a pipe bomb planted on a motorbike parked in front of a bank in Narathiwat’s Muang district.
It was suspected that the bomb was targeted at marines who patrol the area every morning or was intended to damage the district’s economy.
Police sealed off the area after residents alerted them at 7am to a “suspicious” bike left overnight on Phupha Phakdi Road. Bomb squad officers inspected the vehicle and found a 10kg bomb in a compartment under the seat. The squad defused the explosive and removed it for disposal – to the relief of bystanders. Witnesses told police that two youngsters pushed the vehicle, which appeared to be broken, to the spot at around 5am.
Meanwhile, in Muang district in Yala, a neighbouring province, 500 religious leaders and residents of Ban Bo Jed Look in Tambon Yupo gathered yesterday to protest over a bomb planted in a local Islamic graveyard. The move followed a blast in the graveyard on Sunday, which killed a paramilitary volunteer with Ranger Taskforce 43, Saikh Jehdoma, and wounded his 63-year-old father Azi Jehdoma. The two men were praying for Saikh’s recently-deceased mother.
