Big C convenience store in Pattani destroyed by bomb and arson attack

Suspected insurgents destroyed a convenience store in Thung Yang Daeng district of Pattani early Friday morning.

Police suspect that one or two suspects entered the Mini Big C convenience store in Village 6 of Nam Dan sub-district last night and hid an explosive device and a can of gasoline on a shelf of flammable goods. The device was timed to detonate at 3am, when the store was closed and all the staff had gone home.

Police say that this is the same tactic employed by suspected insurgents in previous attacks on convenience stores in the three restive provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, which are intended to cause public unrest.

Insurgent attacks against security force checkpoints and other targets have increased markedly as the Islamic fasting month Ramadan comes to an end today, according to the Office of the Chularatchamontri, the Muslim spiritual leader in Thailand.

Pol Maj-Gen Santhad Chuapudtarn, commander of Pattani provincial police, said that he has instructed police to increase security and to brace for a possible surge in violence, perpetrated by insurgents, before the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins tomorrow to mark the end of the Ramadan.