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YALA, Thailand : At least 13 people were injured in a bombing in Thailand's mainly Muslim south, one of a string of overnight attacks by suspected Islamic separatists, officials said Thursday.
Suspected insurgents staged 12 arson attacks, mainly at elementary schools, and bombed the home of a local Muslim religious leader in Yala province, the officials said.
No one was injured in the fires, but at least 13 people were injured in the bombing, provincial governor Theera Mintrasak said.
The attacks took place in two districts of Yala that are under a military-imposed curfew aimed at stemming a sharp surge in attacks, including the massacre of nine Buddhists and the bombing of a mosque last month.
"They are challenging the government's curfew in those two districts," Theera said.
Army officials were at a loss to explain how the militants could have conducted the raids in areas where extra forces have already been deployed to enforce the curfew imposed three weeks ago.
The army is considering how to toughen up its enforcement of the curfew, spokesman Acar Tiproch said.
"We have to carefully consider our options... All measures will be reasonable," Acar added.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia since the insurgency began in January 2004.
The military-installed government has launched a raft of peace measures, only to see the attacks escalate in the last six months.
- AFP/ir
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