:SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
Home-made bomb leaves girl, mother injured
One man killed, two more hurt in series of shooting attacks starting Saturday night
A mother and daughter were critically injured by a home-made bomb placed next to a telephone booth in Sungai Kolok municipality yesterday morning, one of a series of attacks in the South over the weekend that left one dead and several wounded.
As police investigated the home-made bomb, they found another one in the same area, said Captain Term Intarasara, the superintendent of Sungai Kolok police. The second bomb was timed to explode at 10am but was discovered and disabled, he said.
The militants believed to be behind the attack were likely aiming to kill or injure officials by luring them into the area with the first blast, the superintendent said.
Samlee Prasutthavee, 47, and her six-year-old daughter Mallika Boonma were using the public phone when the bomb exploded, seriously injuring them both. The two were sent to a local hospital for surgery, officials said.
The bomb, estimated to contain 5 kilograms of explosives, destroyed the phone booth, sent shrapnel flying across a 25-metre radius, and left a 1.2-metre-wide, 30-cm-deep hole in the ground.
Also in Narathiwat, Boonmee Saengthong, 35, and his wife Siranna Saengthong, 34, were seriously injured when suspected militants attacked the couple as they rode a motorcycle home from their jobs tapping rubber in Rusoh district yesterday morning.
Police said two gunmen riding a motorcycle approached the couple from behind and fired six rounds from a .38 pistol before speeding away. Bullets struck Boonmee's right leg and hip and Siranna's right arm. The two were sent to a local hospital.
In Sungai Padi district of the same province, Mareeyae Haji-samoh, 35, was ambushed while driving her car home on Saturday night. While her car was riddled with bullets, Mareeyae miraculously survived the attack unscathed, said an investigating official.
In Yala's Muang district, meanwhile, two gunmen opened fire on the residence of Nui Yeesun, 76, but no one was injured. The two suspected Muslim insurgents also placed road spikes on Tha Sarb-Ban Tao Poon Road as they sped away.
Separately, a 44-year-old man was shot to death late Saturday by two militants riding on a motorcycle in Pattani.
More than 1,100 people have lost their lives in the nearly daily shootings, bombings and arson attacks which broke out in January 2004.
The Nation
Narathiwat