PATTANI -- Five people were injured in the explosion of a car bomb, which was followed by a fire, in Yaring district on Thursday evening, police said.
Pol Capt Pawich Krachangsri, a duty officer at Yaring police station, said the bomb went off about 6.20pm in Moo 3 village in tambon Piya Mumang.
Eyewitnesses told police a man drove a car to Ruam Palang Cooperative store in front of Wat Piyaram and parked it by a coin-operated fuel vending machine.
The man pretended to be shopping at the cooperative store for a short while, and was then picked up by another vehicle.
The parked car exploded shortly afterwards, starting a fire which gutted the cooperative store.
Three men and two women were injured in the explosion. The men were identified as Santi Wangnurak, 31, Yuthakan Chunet, 41, and Wannapol Rungsuwan, 27, and the women as Suchada Prompakdi, 33, and Amornmat Chanthorndee, 40.
Earlier, about 6pm in Nong Chik district, a hand grenade was hurled into a grocery shop outside the wall of Wat Mujalintawapeeviharn.
The grenade did not explode. Police called to the scene said it was an M26.
