Three were killed and at least other wounded 18s after a potent homemade bomb exploded in a fresh produce market in Yala province, southern Thailand. According to local media reports, the explosion occurred Monday morning when a man parked a motorcycle near a stall. The owner of the stall asked him to move it but the man escaped first. The owner of the stall moved him alone and a hidden bomb inside the motorcycle exploded, killing him and another customer on the spot, reports said. At least 19 people were injured. The explosion was very strong. Goods scattered around and panicked shoppers were crying in the street, this scene at the arrival of the police, according to national TV. One of the wounded died when he was hospitalized. The police said the bomb was detonated with a timing device. They said it was the first attack on the market in the last two or three years. Attackers could be involved in illegal activities in the province wishing to keep investors and new businesses away from Yala, according to police. Yala is one of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand bordering Malaysia. More than 6.500 people, most of them civilians, died due to separatist violence in southern Thailand from the 2004, when the resistance to Buddhist rule exploded. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, especially the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, are Muslims and resistance to the central government has existed for decades.
