Bomb kills 1, wounds 10 in Muslim Thai south

Pattani, Thailand, Aug 25: A bomb hidden under a bench in front of a food shop killed one person and wounded 10 others in Thailand's Muslim south today, police said.

The remote-controlled device exploded while Buddhist Thais were waiting to give food to monks in the town of Pattani in one of three southernmost provinces where more than 2,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004, police said.

Two civilians were seriously wounded while the shop owner was killed, police said. Monks and the soldiers escorting them were also among the wounded.

Nobody claims responsibility for the daily gun or bomb attacks in the far south, annexed by predominately Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

Eighty per cent of the local population are Muslim, ethnic Malays and do not speak Thai as a first language.

Reuters>