One killed, many wounded in attacks in Thai south

BANGKOK, Feb 18 (Reuters) A series of bomb and arson attacks killed one person and wounded at least 33 in Thailand's Muslim south today, damaging karaoke bars, schools and petrol and power stations, police and witnesses said.

The coordinated attacks were spread across Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani bordering Malaysia, where more than 2,000 people have been killed in a three-year-old separatist insurgency.

In Narathiwat, one person was killed and 10 were wounded in blasts at five karaoke bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok, police radio said.

Twenty-three people were wounded in and around Yala's provincial capital, a Reuters witness at the main hospital said.

Police radio reported arson attacks on three schools in Narathiwat and Pattani's provincial capital fell dark after a bomb knocked out a power station.

REUTERS PDM RN1944