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Bomb Kills 2 Policemen in Thailand

   VOA News 01 January 2011
   Thai bomb squad members and soldiers inspect the site of a failed bomb
   attack  blamed  by  police  on separatist insurgents in the Sungaipadi
   distrist  of Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat, 1 Jan
   2011

Photo: AFP

   Thai bomb squad members and soldiers inspect the site of a failed bomb
   attack  blamed  by  police  on separatist insurgents in the Sungaipadi
   distrist  of Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat, 1 Jan
   2011

   Two  bomb  disposal  policemen were killed in Thailand Saturday when a
   suspected  explosive  they  were  trying  to defuse was detonated by a
   mobile phone.
   Authorities  said  that  at  least  eight people, including four other
   officers,  were  wounded  in the blast at an open market in Thailand's
   violence-wracked southern province of Narathiwat.
   Police said the owner of a vegetable stall alerted authorities about a
   suspicious motorcycle that two teenagers parked nearby. Police cleared
   most  people  from  the  area,  but  a  bomb  hidden in the motorcycle
   exploded as police tried to disarm it.
   Officials  said  Islamic insurgents had threatened New Year's violence
   as part of a years-long campaign against Thai authorities.
   Majority-Muslim  southern  Thailand  has  been the scene of persistent
   violence  since  early  2004,  when  Muslim militants raided a weapons
   depot  and  escaped  with 300 rifles. More than 4,000 people have been
   killed since then, both Muslims and Buddhists.

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   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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