4-Year-old girl, father killed in south Thailand bombing

Thailand: A bomb hidden in a motorcycle was detonated outside a school in in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province, south Thailand on Tuesday killing a four-year-old girl and a man who is believed to be her father and wounding 10 other people said authorities.

The device which was packed in the fuel tank of the parked motorcycle, exploded as pupils and teachers filed into the school on Tuesday morning.

A Tak Bai police said;

“Two people killed were including a kindergarten girl and one adult who may be her father.”

A hospital worker who confirmed the death toll said 10 other adults were wounded in the explosion including civilians and four police officers.

Security forces cut off phone lines to the remote area as rebels often use mobile signals to detonate bombs.

Insurgents in the ‘Deep South’ as it is called often target schools and teachers as a symbol of Thai state power over the culturally distinct Muslim-majority region.

In a social media statement, spokesman for the Thai army in the south Colonel Pramote Prom-in said;

“The bomb is an attempt by militants to incite unrest and aimed to kill ... indiscriminately as shown by the four-year-old victim.”