Insurgents attack bus in southern Thailand

Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand Saturday killed two persons and wounded 20 others in separate incidents, police said, the latest in a spree of violence since a prayer-time massacre at a mosque nearly a week ago.

The incidents involved a bomb attack on a bus, a drive-by shooting and a bomb explosion at a grocery store, according to police reports.

Incidents of violence have occurred daily in southern Thailand since Monday's killing of 10 Muslims at a mosque in neighboring Narathiwat province.

Thai authorities say the attacks are aimed at igniting sectarian conflict between Muslims and Buddhists in Thailand's three southernmost provinces where the five-year-old insurgency has taken the lives of more than 3,400 people.

Two suspected Muslim insurgents riding a motorcycle hurled a bomb at a bus, killing one passenger and wounding 13 others, as the vehicle was leaving downtown Yala city, said police Lt. Col. Wattanachai Chantimangkul.

In neighboring Narathiwat province, a village headman's wife was killed and another person wounded while they were riding a motorcycle to a market, said police Lt. Col. Jamlong Suwalak. The assailants were also on a motorcycle.

In another area of the province, six persons were slightly injured when a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound), homemade bomb exploded in a grocery store, said police Capt. Attawut Petchkaew.

He said two teenagers went into the shop and pretended to look for some drinks before planting the bomb, secreted in a metal box, near the drinks freezer. The explosive went off shortly after they left, he said.

Rumors continued to circulate that the mosque attack was masterminded by Thai authorities, something strongly denied by the government which has stepped up security measures in the mainly-Muslim south.

Human Rights Watch called Friday on Thai authorities to impartially investigate the mosque killings as well as retaliatory attacks on Buddhist monks and civilians.

"Several ethnic Malay Muslims from the region told Human Rights Watch that they believe Thai security forces targeted the Muslim community to avenge recent killings of Buddhist Thai civilians and officials by separatist insurgents," a statement from the New York-based group said.

Recent attacks by suspected insurgents have included the killings of a Buddhist monk, a pregnant woman and her husband, four Buddhist teachers and two elderly Buddhist women who were burned to death after being shot.

Security forces sometimes blame the insurgents for attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions, claiming they mean to stir up hatred to boost their cause and trigger sectarian strife.

But it is widely believed that some local Buddhists, with the help of rogue security forces, have their own vigilante groups to fight against suspected insurgents.

The shadowy insurgents are generally believed to be fighting to carve out an independent Muslim state from the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. While many in these provinces do not support the rebels, there is a widespread feeling among Muslims that they are regarded as second-class citizens by predominantly Buddhist Thai authorities.