Thai Car bomb injures seven

THAILAND: A car bomb exploded in southern Thailand Wednesday, injuring seven people, police said, a day after the government moved to end emergency rule in another part of the restive region.

The makeshift device, made of about 15 kilos (33 pounds) of explosives packed into a fire extinguisher, was detonated by mobile phone in front of a highway department office in Narathiwat province, authorities said.

They said three government officials and four villagers were hurt in the blast, which blew the roof off the car. In another incident in neighbouring Yala province, suspected militants detonated a roadside bomb and tried to ambush patrolling security officials, although nobody was hurt, police said.

Suspected Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in the region since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, both Muslims and Buddhists.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the latest unrest would not change his government’s plan to lift emergency rule in a pocket of the troubled deep south as a test case for the rest of the Muslim-majority region.

“We will look at it area by area and take the general situation into consideration,” he told reporters in Bangkok.

The emergency laws — which give broad powers to security forces — are being rolled back in Mae Lan district in Pattani, one of three provinces near the Malaysian border which have been subject to the decree since 2005.

Abhisit said he was confident that Bangkok’s New Year countdown celebrations would be peaceful. NARATHIWAT, Wednesday, AFP