Restive String of Bombs

Who might have done this?

Coordinated bombings rock the South

A string of 13 bomb explosions Monday morning in the troubled deep South injured at least nine people, including one Buddhist monk, a military source said.

The first batch of five bombs went off about 7 am local time in the morning market of Rangae town, Narathiwat province, 790 kilometres south of Bangkok, injuring a monk on his alms-gathering rounds and two soldiers guarding him, said regional army spokesman Colonel Akara Thiprote.

Five villagers were also injured in the first attack.

Another four bombs were detonated in Rangae at 8:10 am, injuring one person.

Rangue is classified as a "red zone" by Thai authorities, because of the close collaboration between separatists and the town's inhabitants.

Meanwhile, two more bombs went off in Waeng, and one each in Sisakorn and Sungai Padi, all in Narathiwat, leaving two people injured.

They were the latest of more than 6,000 violent incidents reported over the past three and a half years in Thailand's troubled deep South, the majority-Muslim region comprising Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces and parts of Songkhla.

According to army data, some 2,500 people have died from the violence since January 1, 2004.