Railway Explosion Leaves 3 Dead In Thailand - Authorities

Railway Explosion Leaves 3 Dead in Thailand - Authorities

BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2022) Three workers of the State Railway of Thailand were killed and four other people were injured in an explosion on a railway in Songkhla Province in southern Thailand, Thai media reported Tuesday, citing local authorities.

An improvised explosive device was detonated at around 6:20 a.m. local time (23:20 GMT Monday), Bangkok Post said. The affected section was only 400 meters (1,300 feet) away from the point where another explosion occurred on December 3, which derailed a freight train, the report said, citing the State Railway of Thailand.

Authorities believe that both explosions were organized by a separatist combat cell operating in the predominantly Muslim populated provinces of Thailand's "extreme South," Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla.

Separatist groups demanding a higher degree of autonomy or the separation of "Muslim" provinces from predominantly Buddhist Thailand have been active in the south of the country for more than a hundred years since the accession of these territories to the state as a result of border demarcation treaties signed at the beginning of the 20th century.