Six held for Hat Yai bombings

Hat Yai

Police have arrested six Muslim teenagers believed to have been involved in the multiple bombings in Hat Yai on Sunday night.

The teenagers were apprehended in Hat Yai during a raid on a house in tambon Kuan Lang on Wednesday night.

Deputy police chief Pol Lt-Gen Adul Saengsingkaew led a team of investigators back to the house yesterday. They found electrical wires and digital clocks that appeared to link the gang with the bombings.

Traces of explosive powder were found on the hands and fingernails of two of the youths, identified as Afandi Samae and Saidi Mamu, police said.

The team found electrical wire, traces of explosive powder, chemical substances and a clock timer. Police were gathering more evidence from the house as they believed that the youths were probably involved in the bombing.

Seven bombs went off on Sunday night, killing one person and injuring 12 others.

The area is still struggling to revive its tourism industry after six bombs went off in the tourist district in September last year, killing four people and injuring 82.

In Pattani, about 2,000 Muslims demonstrated in the compound of the main provincial mosque, calling on the government to remove all military ranger units from Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat and to lift the curfew in Yala's Yaha and Bannang Sata districts.

About 200 Muslim women and children again blocked the Yala-Betong road to push for the arrest of security officers accused of shooting dead five people and wounding eight others at Ban Pak Di in Bannang Sata district on April 9.