Bombings in insurgency-plagued southern Thailand kill 3, injure 14

HAT YAI, Thailand – Police say nine bomb blasts targeting different areas of a southern Thai province have killed three people and injured 14 others.

Col. Pramote Promin said eight blasts Thursday night in Narathiwat province killed a soldier and two civilians. He said a ninth explosion of a 10-kilogram (22-pound) roadside bomb on Friday damaged a police car but did not cause any casualties.

Police blamed separatist insurgents for the explosions.

Targets of the Thursday night attacks included residential areas, a Buddhist temple, telecommunications and waterworks buildings, a local government office and a royally sponsored development project.

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 Buddhist-dominated country.