Motorcycle bomb injures 17 in Thai south

Mon Oct 5, 2009 1:45pm EDT

YALA, Thailand Oct 5 (Reuters) - A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded in Thailand's restive deep south on Monday, wounding 17 people celebrating a Buddhist festival, police said.

The bomb was detonated remotely as crowds of people gathered to watch the parade in Pattani, one of three mainly Muslim border provinces plagued by brutal separatist violence.

More than 3,600 people, Muslims and minority Buddhists, have been killed since 2004 in the rubber-rich region, an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago.

The more than 30,000 troops stationed in the deep south have made no inroads towards crushing the shadowy rebels, who have never publicly stated their aims.

(For a Q+A on Thailand's southern insurgency: [ID:nBKK485664])

(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by *****)



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