Police yesterday detained six people suspected of involvement in two bomb explosions in Sungai Kolok district on Thursday which left two people dead. Pol Col Somphong Chingduang, deputy provincial police chief, said police had traced the suspects from closed-circuit camera footage in the area of the blasts and then detained them for interrogation. On Thursday, two bombs exploded at a restaurant in Sungai Kolok, killing Chalee Boonsawat, a reporter for Thai Rath daily newspaper, and injuring 33 other people. One of the injured victims died in hospital yesterday. Pol Col Prapun Meemongkol, superintendent of the district police station, and Phadung Wannaluck, a reporter for Modern Nine television station, were among the wounded.
Repair work on electricity utilities also got under way after they were damaged by insurgents at the time of the blasts. The town was left with no power throughout the night.
In the wake of the explosions, assistant police chief Pol Lt-Gen Adul Saengsingkaew ordered police forces in Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and four districts of Songkhla to beef up security.
Pol Maj-Gen Pongsak Nakvijit, the provincial police chief, said violent attacks increased in frequency every year before September because it was deemed a holy month as the Muslim fasting period of Ramadan began. He added that investigators had possible leads on the bombers' identities, but could not give any details.
An intelligence source said the explosions were the work of rebels from the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) group operating in Sungai Padi and Sungai Kolok districts and on the Thai-Malaysian border. The group was controlled by two core leaders, Aziz Zo and Zahawuddin Zo.