By IANS,
Bangkok : At least seven people were killed and more than 70 injured Saturday in three serial bomb explosions in Thailand, officials said.
The bombings took place around noon in the main business centre of Yala municipality in the southern province of Yala, Xinhua reported citing the Bangkok Post online.
Colonel Pramote Promin, a spokesman for the southern army region, said seven people were confirmed dead.
The first bomb was hidden in a motorcycle parked outside a karaoke shop. The second and third bombs were detonated in cars, when security personnel rushed to check the first explosion.
Several shops near the blast sites caught fire and many parked vehicles were damaged in the powerful explosions.
Yala is one of three southern Thailand provinces with a Malay-Muslim majority. The region has been affected by a separatist insurgency for the past one decade.