Bomb blast rocks night market in Pattani, Thailand

A BOMB has ripped through a noodle shop at a night market in southern Thailand, killing one person and injuring 18.

An injured child is treated at a hospital after a bombing in the southern Thai province of Pattani. Picture: AFP/Tuwaedaniya Meringing

ONE person has been killed and 18 wounded, some critically, when a bomb exploded outside a noodle shop in Thailand’s far south, police and witnesses said.

The bomb tore through a noodle shop around 7pm Monday local time in downtown Pattani, a town in Thailand’s Malay-speaking Muslim south.

“One woman was killed, a Thai Buddhist, and 18 were injured,” Yutthakarn Chitmanee, an officer at Muang Pattani police station said.

The attack coincided with the anniversary of the death of dozens of local Muslims at the hands of Thai security forces, an event that kicked off the current insurgency more than a decade ago.

A bomb has ripped through a night market in Pattani, Thailand. Picture: Twitter/@Nalinee_PLE

An AFP photographer on the scene saw multiple casualties, some of them with what looked like life-threatening injuries. The noodle shop was left a twisted wreck by the blast.

Thai police say the perpetrators are from the south. But they have so far publicly denied a link to the southern insurgency, fearful of a backlash on the crucial tourist trade.

The kingdom’s Muslim-majority “deep south”, an area bordering Malaysia, has seen near daily bombings and shootings since the most recent wave of rebellion erupted in 2004.

เหตุระเบิดที่ตลาดโต้รุ่ง ปัตตานี บาดเจ็บเพิ่มเป็น 19 คน (ตัวเลขยังไม่นิ่ง) เสียชีวิตแล้ว 1 เป็นหญิง cr.บูลย์กู้ภัย pic.twitter.com/oh87fmtcgn

— Nalinee Siriked (@Nalinee_PLE) October 24, 2016

#BreakingNews - เกิดเหตุวางระเบิดที่ปัตตานี ล่าสุดเจ็บ 18 ราย สาหัส 1 ราย #VoiceNews pic.twitter.com/PMEYWstDMW

— VoiceTV21 (@Voice_TV) October 24, 2016

On October 25 of that year 85 Thai Muslims were killed, most of them suffocating in overcrowded lorries after protests were suppressed by the military.

More than 6600 people — mostly civilians — have since died in a conflict that pits ethnic Malay militants seeking greater autonomy against security forces from Thailand’s Buddhist-majority state.

An injured child is brought through a hospital after a bombing in the southern Thai province of Pattani. Picture: AFP/Tuwaedaniya Meringing

 

Late October often sees a spike in attacks to mark the anniversary of the insurgency’s start.

Thailand’s ruling junta says it has tried to restart peace talks with the Muslim militants since it took power in 2014.

But the negotiations have failed to gain traction, while attacks continue to strike across the region, although the attrition rate is down on previous years.

The deadly bomb ripped through a night market in Pattani. Picture: AFP/Tuwaedaniya Meringing

The rebels are widely believed to be behind an unprecedented string of bomb blasts on tourist towns outside their conflict zone in August, killing four people and wounding dozens, including foreigners.

Both sides have been accused of human rights violations and targeting civilians. No member of the Thai security forces has ever been jailed for extrajudicial killings or torture in the restive ‘deep south’