A bomb exploded Monday at a teashop in Yala province, wounding 14 people, while two other bombs left three injured in Narathiwat, police said.

The Yala bomb was hidden in a teashop, located near a government school in troubled Bannang Sata district. The explosion seriously wounded four people, Pol Lt Yothin Wanthawee said.

In next-door Narathiwat province, two bomb blasts wounded two soldiers and a government employee
in separate insurgent attacks.

The first bomb was detonated on a road in Tak Bai district while a six-man military patrol was passing through the area on foot. Preliminary investigation also found the remains of a remote-controlled bomb weighing about 5 kg at the scene.

A second bomb exploded nearly simultaneously on a bridge over a waterway sluice gate in Tak Bai district. A worker of the Royal Irrigation Department, Soon Khongpoon, was wounded and sent to hospital.

In Narathiwat's Tak Bai district, deputy governor Niphon Narapitakkun presided over a Muslim religious ceremony to pray for peace in the area. Nearly 1,000 villagers attended the ceremony to express their opposition to school arson attacks.

Bansriphangan School in the district was torched on Sunday night, forcing the students to study in three makeshift tents, set up on the football field today.

Meanwhile, in adjacent province of Yala, more than 400 students from Banbannang School in the provincial seat must sit on the ground under seven makeshift tents, used as temporarily classrooms after their school was burned.

School director Wirat Phuphongpiboon called for assistance from other agencies and donation from private sector. The school needs desks, chairs, and textbooks for students.

Since a Muslim rebellion flared in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in early 2004, near-daily bombings, drive-by shootings and other attacks have killed more than 2,300 people.

source: Bangkokpost - 18/6/2007