Bombs in Thai south kill one, injure 14

THAILAND: A policeman was killed and 14 other people injured when two bombs exploded in Thailand's deep south, where authorities are battling a bloody separatist rebellion, police said Sunday.

The first blast hit a busy night market in Narathiwat province on Saturday evening, injuring nine diners, local police said.

A few hours later, a second bomb exploded in a car park near a police station in neighbouring Pattani province, killing one policeman instantly and injuring five of his colleagues.

More than 3,000 people have been killed since separatist unrest broke out in January 2004 in the south, which was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until mainly Buddhist Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension.

Bangkok, Sunday, AFP