Motorcycle bomb kills 2, wounds 6 soldiers in Thai south
May 1, 2012


Members of a Thai bomb squad unit inspect a damage roadside caused from a bomb attack by separatist militants in Narathiwat province on April 20, 2012. Two Thai military rangers were killed and six were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb planted in a motorcycle exploded in the southern province of Pattani.
PHOTO: AFP

BANGKOK, May 1 (Reuters) - Two Thai military rangers were killed and six were wounded on Tuesday when a bomb planted in a motorcycle exploded in the southern province of Pattani, a police officer said.

At least 5,000 people have been killed in southern Thailand since 2004 in violence attributed to Muslim separatists.

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are Muslim-dominated and were part of an independent Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Thailand in 1909.

Police told Reuters that the soldiers from a ranger unit were travelling in a pickup truck, heading to an outpost when a bomb of up to 10kg was remotely detonated on a road near a military camp.

straitstimes.com