Car bomb in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south wounds over 50
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PATTANI -- Suspected insurgents detonated a car bomb Tuesday outside a busy shopping center in southern Thailand, wounding more than 50 people in a huge blast that ripped the building apart and sent people running for their lives.
The attackers initially set off a small bomb outside the mall before triggering explosives planted in a pickup truck at the shopping center's entrance in the city of Pattani, said police Capt. Preecha Prachumchai, who was investigating the blast. The military had earlier said the initial blast was firecrackers.
The explosion occurred at a Big C shopping center, a major grocery and retail chain. Thai television stations aired footage showing a huge black plume of smoke rising skyward from the blackened building as rescue workers doused the flames and soldiers stood by.
