BANGKOK: A car bomb exploded on Friday outside a hotel in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand, killing three people and wounding more than 30 others, police said.
The blast ripped through a busy shopping street in the border town of Betong in Yala province which is popular with tourists from neighbouring Malaysia.
A Malaysian tourist was among those hurt, according to police.
Firefighters were seen battling to extinguish a blaze sparked by the bomb as a plume of black smoke rose from the blast site.
Police inspected the mangled remains of what appeared to be the car used in the attack, almost completely destroyed by the explosion.
“A car bomb went off in front of Holiday Hill Hotel at around 4:00 pm (0900 GMT)”, Lieutenant Colonel Sophon Saisuree told AFP by telephone.
“It’s a busy area with many shops, hotels and motorists passing by in the evening,” he said.
Of the wounded, three were in critical condition while 30 others had minor injuries, he said in an updated toll.
Sophon described the bomb as “handmade”.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion was likely to fall on insurgents waging a decade-long campaign against the Thai state.
More than 6,100 people have been killed in near-daily bombings and shootings in the region near Thailand’s southern border with Malaysia since 2004.
Buddhists and Muslims alike fall victim to the shadowy insurgents, who target security forces, civilians and perceived representatives of state authority.
Earlier this month three policemen were shot dead in an ambush by suspected militants as they returned from evening prayers. — AFP