A roadside bomb on Tuesday (December 5th) killed three railway workers who were repairing a railway line damaged by another explosion on Saturday in the rebellious south of Thailand, Thai police said.
The incident happened in Sadao, in the province of Songkhla, bordering Malaysia, a region in the grip of an armed separatist conflict which, in recent weeks, has suffered an increase in violence.
A first bomb exploded on Saturday December 3 on the railway line linking Padang Besar (Malaysia) to Hat Yai, causing the derailment of a freight train.
It was 200 meters further that a second bomb exploded on Tuesday, killing three people and four slightly injured, all employees of the national railway company (SRT) who came to carry out repairs.
"
We believe the bomb had been there since Saturday
," police Colonel Chartchai Chanasit said, adding that no other explosive device was found in the area.
No group claimed responsibility for these attacks.
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A conflict is raging in southern Thailand, heavily guarded by security forces, where rebels in this Muslim-majority region are struggling to gain greater autonomy from the Buddhist state.
According to figures from the organization Deep South Watch, more than 7,300 people have died since 2004 in this conflict which is getting bogged down.
Insurgents most often target symbols of central Thai authority, such as the police or train tracks.
At the end of November, the explosion of a car bomb in front of a police building killed one person, in the province of Narathiwat, also in the South.