By IRNA-TNA
Yala : As many as 37 people were injured in the bombing at a busy morning market in the violence-plagued southern border province of Yala on Tuesday morning. Six of the 37 were severely injured.
The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle, parked adjacent to a Yala municipality market by a young Muslim man. The owner of the motorcycle had notified Yala police Monday that his motorcycle had been stolen.
The incident, the third major insurgency-related event in three days, is an embarrassment to the authorities as it calls into question government claims that its counter-insurgency strategies have become more effective.
Early Sunday morning six insurgents escaped from a police confinement cell in the region, and Monday morning an eight-man Thai Army patrol was wiped out in an ambush that left all the government soldiers dead, one even beheaded.
Following the spate of violence in several locations in the three southern border provinces, police and military authorities have tightened security at the provincial seat in Yala, particularly in community areas.
Police have stepped-up patrols to sites thought to be espeicially vulnerable to search for suspicious materials.
Government intelligence sources believe the attacks have been in retaliation for the effectiveness of official operations to crack down on the insurgency.