Three bomb attacks minutes apart killed nine people and wounded more than 100 on Saturday in the main town in Thailand’s insurgency-hit far south, a hospital worker said.
The blasts hit the centre of Yala around midday as families were out shopping. Several shop houses near the blast sites were set on fire and many parked cars and motorcycles were damaged by the powerful explosions.
“There are nine dead now and 112 injured people sent to our hospital,” a nurse in the emergency unit of Yala provincial hospital told AFP.
The public health ministry said 10 people were in critical condition with severe burns.
Colonel Pramote Promin, spokesman for the southern army region, earlier gave a toll of seven dead and more than 70 wounded.
“There were three bombs that exploded, the first is a car bomb and the second and third bombs were hidden in motorcycles,” the colonel said.
A Yala city policeman added: “The bombs went off about 10 minutes apart.”
Bomb squad officers were seen inspecting the mangled car wreckage at the site of the car bomb as firefighters doused blazes nearby.
Rescue workers helped bloodied victims and searched for other wounded people as smoke filled the street.
One policeman was wounded in a separate motorcycle bomb attack in Mae Lan district of neighbouring Pattani province, police said.
