One person killed and 16 injured in car bomb explosion in Thailand

June 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –

A woman has been killed and 16 others injured when a car bomb exploded outside a police residential building in Bannang Sata, Yala province, southern Thailand.

The explosion occurred at around 10.30am on Sunday in front of a residential building linked to the Bannang Sata police station, near the market and a municipal headquarters, according to the Bangkok Post.

The fatal victim has been identified as Rokiyoh Sarana, a 45-year-old teacher who was passing by the place when the detonation occurred, as reported by the Thai Minister of Justice, Tawee Sodsong.

Six of the injured were police officers and the other ten were local residents. Five are in serious condition due to the impact of shrapnel and glass. They have been treated at Bannangsata Hospital.

The authorities have cordoned off the area for fear of the possible existence of other explosives. A police spokesman, Piyawat Chalermsri, explained that the bomb was made up of a gas cylinder placed in a publicly owned Toyota vehicle that had been stolen on Saturday.

This is the first car bomb to detonate so far this year in the south of the country, a conflictive area due to historical claims. The provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, bordering Malaysia, were a Muslim sultanate until annexation a century ago by predominantly Buddhist Thailand. About 80 percent of people are Muslim and speak the Malaysian dialect, not Thai.