A bomb exploded on a crowded railway station platform in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai Saturday, killing a five-year-old boy and injuring nearly 40 people, officials said.
Police said they suspected the attack was the work of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), a Muslim separatist group which killed 10 people in a 1993 bombing at the same station.
"It's likely that it was planted by PULO. Last year they tried to bomb a railway track, but the device did not go off," Special Branch deputy chief, Major General Sawek Wattanakij, told AFP.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra lashed out at Thai intelligence organisations for failing to prevent the bombing, despite an apparent warning blast late last week that had put them on high alert.
"I don't understand why, after there were reports that a sabotage attack was likely, that authorities can fail to prevent such an extremely serious incident," he said.
"I don't know yet which group is responsible for this incident, but it is a serious challenge to the power of the government."
The device exploded next to a public information kiosk which was packed with dozens of people who were inquiring about the delayed departure of an afternoon train to Bangkok over the holiday weekend.
It went off at 2:25 p.m. (0725 GMT) as hundreds of travelers prepared to board trains which leave Hat Yai's railway station around then, in time to arrive in the capital by early morning.
Hat Yai's main hospital was treating 38 people for injuries sustained in the blast, staff there told AFP, adding that 10 of them were in a serious condition.
Television stations showed grisly footage of wounded babies and adults being treated for extensive shrapnel wounds at the provincial hospital – BANGKOK (AFP)
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