Two more men have been arrested in connection with the deadly bombing in a Malaysian border district of this insurgency-troubled southern province last week were apprehended early Sunday, bringing to eight the total number of suspects nabbed to date, officials here said.
More than 200 personnel in a combined military and police force searched an unnamed village in Sungai Kolok, apprehending a man with two pistols, 181 rounds of ammunition, a large amount of US currency, five cell phones, five bank account books, four motorcycles and a pickup truck. The arrested man told authorities that both the weapons and the dollars belonged to someone else. Another man, a 30-year-old homeowner, was also arrested for interrogation. The authorities seized a pistol, 26 cartridges, Bt76,000 cash and a counterfeit motorcycle registration plate in his possession.
In Thursday night's bombing, a small bomb exploded first, injuring no one, but served to attract police, local officials, media and curious bystanders, and when a crowd had gathered, a larger and quite deadly bomb was exploded by remote control near Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district police headquarters, killing two persons and wounding 35 others. The bomb in the motorcycle, which was parked at a restaurant, exploded first at about 9.30 pm Thursday and the car bomb about 20 minutes later after a crowd had gathered.
Maj-Gen. Theerachai Nakvanich, commanding the Narathiwat Task Force, said all suspects are being detained for interrogation, and that the authorities now knew the origin of the bomb-laden motorcycle and car. Intelligence officers have stepped up their activities in three Narathiwat districts to monitor movements of the insurgents, Maj-Gen. Theerachai indicated.