Two detained after bomb kills three at Thai festival
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Thai police arrested a Thai youth and a man who they said was a member of the Karen National Union, an ethnic minority rebel group in Myanmar.
PHOTO: XINHUA
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BANGKOK - The authorities in Thailand have arrested two men following a bomb blast at a festival near the border with Myanmar that killed three people and wounded dozens, police said on Dec 14.
An improvised explosive device went off on a dance floor at a festival in Umphang district in Thailand’s northern Tak province on the night of Dec 13, according to local police.
Two people were killed instantly and another died later in hospital, police said. The explosion also injured 48 people among approximately 8,000 to 9,000 at the event.
Thai police said they had arrested a Thai youth and a man who was a member of the Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic minority rebel group
Tak police chief Samrit Ekamol said the Myanmar suspect had thrown the bomb after encountering a “rival gangster” he had previously fought with.
A senior KNU official contacted by AFP, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media, denied any involvement and said the group did not have any members in the area.
The KNU expressed its condolences to the families of those killed and wounded in the blast in a separate statement on its Facebook page.
“We will cooperate with the Thai government to bring about justice. We do not accept this type of terrorist action and condemn it,” the statement said.
The KNU can call on more than 5,000 fighters, maintains close links with the Thai police and military, and has extensive business interests on both sides of the border, according to analysts.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her condolences to the victims and their families, and urged security agencies to carry out an investigation. AFP
