Two dead as three Thai department stores bombed

Bombs ripped through three department stores in Thailand’s restive south today, killing two and wounding 10 others, an army commander said.

The attacks came just hours after the military staged a peace rally in the south, the site of a Muslim insurgency, where it expressed hope that people would work with authorities to end the violence.

The three bombings occurred around 8.20pm local time in the Hat Yai business district in Thailand’s south, the regional army commander Lt Gen Ongkorn Thongprasom said. Ongkorn said two were killed and 10 injured.

The southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have been rocked by violence since 2004 which has claimed more than 1,700 lives.

The provinces are the only ones in Thailand with a Muslim majority and citizens there have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the country’s Buddhist majority.