Car bomb explosion in Thailand: six injured

A bomb in the trunk of a parked car exploded Friday and injured at least six people in southern Thailand, including two police officers, police said. The bomb went off near a roadside coffee stall in Narathiwat province, said police Col. Nukul Kraithong. The six injured, including two police officers, were all at the coffee stall when the device exploded. Two of the injured were in serious condition, Nukul said. Narathiwat, along with Yala and Pattani provinces, have been plagued by a Muslim separatist insurgency that has killed more than 1,200 people since January 2004.

The bomb exploded shortly before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's arrival in the south to inspect severe flooding across the region. Police said they didn't know whether the bomb was triggered by a mobile telephone, as many other explosions in the region have been. Nukul said the car had a fake license plate and police believe it was parked there by an insurgent.

The use of mobile telephones to set off explosives has decreased since authorities ordered the registration of all mobile phones and cut off the signals of unregistered ones more than one month ago, reports the AP. I.L.