Thai jihad update: “Southern Unrest: Powerful bomb blacks out central Narathiwat,” from The Nation, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
A bomb blast blacked out the centre of Narathiwat town for three hours last night as Muslims prepared to mark the end of Ramadan. Security troops also found bombs at seven other spots in the troubled southern border province but were able to successfully defuse them.
Two petrol-bomb attacks were also reported in the province, one at a cooking-gas depot and the other outside the provincial prison, leaving a pedestrian and his nine-year-old son injured.
Police blamed the attacks on Islamic insurgents, who have been waging a renewed separatist campaign in the deep South since early last year.
Authorities said the blackout was caused by a powerful bomb, which brought down a high-voltage power pole in Narathiwat’s Muang district at about 7pm and severed the connected power lines.
Over the course of the next hour, explosives were also found and defused at a gas depot and six other places around the southern city, police and district officials said.