Car bomb in southern Thailand injures 7 police, 2 civilians

PATTANI — A roadside police patrol camp in southern Thailand was attacked yesterday by an improvised car bomb that left seven officers and two civilians injured, police said.

The attack in Pattani province was believed to have been carried out by Muslim insurgents who targeted the outpost used by special forces, said police Col. Keerati Waeyoosoh, the Pattani police superintendent.

Keerati said the bomb, made from a cylinder gas tank, was placed inside a car that had been stolen earlier yesterday from a tire shop whose owner was shot three times but survived. The car was then parked before it exploded outside a roadside restaurant adjacent to the police camp, which was destroyed by the blast.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since an insurgency erupted in 2004 in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the predominantly Buddhist country. Last year, the level of violence dropped, according to official figures, but peace talks have made little apparent progress.

The insurgents are known for drive-by shootings and bombs placed on parked motorcycles and cars.