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By Abdulloh Benjakat and AP

Pattani - Six people died and 24 were injured at a roadside restaurant in Pattani's Muang district on Tuesday, one of the deadliest bombing tolls in recent memory.

The explosive was hidden in the fuel tank of a motorcycle ridden by two suspected Muslim insurgents. It detonated as they went past the restaurant, army spokesman Col Akara Thiprote said.

"We suspect the bomb went off before they intended it to," Col Akara said. The two were killed instantly.

Two people outside the open-air restaurant were killed, along with two employees. The many injured people were taken to Pattani provincial hospital.

In Kok Pho district, three suspected insurgents wanted on arrest warrants, two of them teachers, were arrested yesterday morning.

They were identified as Asae Salae, 32, a labourer, Adisak Tayeh and Ason Baka, 29, both teachers.

Police said that Mr Adisak taught at the Asistan Foundation school and Mr Ason at Muhammadeeya school in the province.

The three suspects allegedly worked on the ground for the insurgent network.

Pol Col Supawat Tapkoew, police chief at Khok Pho police station, said they were arrested at a house by a combined force of police and soldiers.

Items such as a torch and a canvas tent were seized.

The suspects denied any involvement in the insurgency.

Also in Pattani, two bombs tied to the underside of a pick-up truck were discovered by accident in Muang district yesterday.

Salae Jehuseng, said he drove his pick-up to a repair shop after smoke billowed out from beneath it. Startled repairmen found the explosives attached to the underside of the vehicle.

A bomb team took 20 minutes to disable them. One device weighed 5kg and the other 2kg.

The squad members said the first device failed to explode and the second was neutralised in time, so nobody was harmed.

In neighbouring Yala, Yongyuth Julales, a defence volunteer, was seriously wounded in an ambush in Bannang Sata district yesterday afternoon. He was shot at while patrolling the Yala-Betong road.

By : Bangkok Post