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42 hurt in car bomb attack

Intelligence officer tips rise in violence

NARATHIWAT : The frequency of militant attacks and car bombs is expected to increase in the far South, a military intelligence source warns.

The warning came yesterday after a powerful car bomb went off outside a restaurant in Narathiwat's Muang district, wounding 42 people, including a local district chief and a doctor.

Police said a bomb weighing at least 50kg was planted in a pickup truck parked near the Suan Kluay restaurant in a soi off Rattanavanich Road.

The restaurant was packed with diners when the powerful bomb went off, police said.

The vehicle was engulfed in flames when police and bomb experts arrived. Firefighters were called in to put out the flames.

Among the injured, who were rushed to Narathiwat Rajanagarinda Hospital, were Muang district chief Surachai Chawalarat, said Wipawan Thongkham, an opthalmologist at the hospital.

Most of the victims received minor injuries and were discharged after having their wounds treated.

Only four of the 42 were in a serious condition.

Police investigators found the pickup truck used in the attack was stolen. It belonged to a land survey official in Pattani who was shot dead by suspected militants in Narathiwat's Bacho district on Aug 5.

Police are gathering evidence and checking footage from four security cameras installed near the explosion site to discover the identity of the perpetrators.

A source from the 4th Army intelligence unit said separatists were planning a new wave of bomb attacks in the southern border provinces.

The source said the 4th Army would step up security and use helicopters to detect and jam radio signals that could be used to detonate explosive devices.

Security would be beefed up in vulnerable areas in the three southernmost provinces and in Songkhla's Hat Yai district.

But 4th Army commander Pichet Wisaijorn, who is in charge of security in the far South, said violence in the region had fallen in recent months and yesterday's car bomb could be intended by separatists to attract attention and earn newspaper space.

He said statistics show more rebel attacks occur every year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last Friday.

Lt Gen Pichet said he had received information about possible militant attacks since Aug 15 and told security forces to keep an eye out.

However, Lt Gen Pichet said security troops were unable to protect every area because the ground they must cover was too vast.

"Some areas may slip through the security net," he said.

Lt Col Krittapas Krueanate, who heads bomb disposal operations in the far South, said car and motorcycle bombs began to hit the restive region in 2005 and have become more violent since last year. It was difficult to deter such attacks.

The attacks were now being directed at specific and important targets, such as local government offices, places of local significance and motorcades of important people, he said.

The assailants are also using larger amounts of explosives in each attack and are coming up with more complicated plots to deceive the authorities, he said.

The attacks were modelled on those being used in other countries like Iraq, Lt Col Krittapas said.