Grenade blast wounds 4 at Malaysia border post -army

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (Reuters) A grenade exploded today at a Malaysian army post on the border with Thailand, wounding four troops, a Malaysian army spokeswoman said.

''There was a hand-grenade blast and there were four injured,'' Lieutenant-Colonel Fadzlette Othman Merican Idris said.

She said the grenade exploded at about 5 a.m. local time (0230 IST) at a joint border post manned by Malaysian and Thai forces at Ban Din Samoe but details were still sketchy.

The four wounded troops were in stable condition in hospital in Malaysia's northwest state of Kedah, which borders Thailand.

''Someone must have thrown it to our force. We cannot identify yet who threw it,'' she added.

A Kedah military official, who declined to give his name, told Reuters by telephone: ''It's an interior issue, not an exterior one.'' He did not elaborate.

A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment when asked if Malaysia planned to send more troops to the area, referring all questions about the incident to the army.

REUTERS KD SSC1554