May 24, 2014: Thai police officers and soldiers examine the site where a bomb exploded at a super store in Pattani province, southern Thailand. (AP Photo/Sumeth Panpetch)
BANGKOK – A series of coordinated bomb attacks in restive southern Thailand hit convenience stores, gas stations and other locations, killing three people and wounding scores, police said.
The explosions Saturday evening occurred in Pattani province in Thailand's predominantly Muslim south, where an Islamic insurgency has claimed thousands of lives.
It was unlikely that the blasts were related to the military coup staged in Thailand's capital this past week, though insurgents may have been emboldened by the development.
Pattani provincial police chief Phote Suaisuwan said the blasts hit four 7-11 convenience stores, two gas stations and three other locations. Hospitals reported they treated 63 people and three had died.
More than 5,000 people have been killed since the insurgency flared in 2004. Thai Muslims complain of being treated as second-class citizens by the Buddhist majority.
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