NARATHIWAT, Aug 3 (TNA) – Security personnel retrieved a bomb placed at an entrance of a school in the southern border province of Narathiwat Monday morning after the explosive device failed to activate.

A homemade three-kilogramme bomb in a metal box was found at the entrance of a school in Rue So district where a military teacher protection unit checkpoint is loated.

According to an initial investigation of Rue So police, suspected insurgents planned to attack a teacher protection unit stationed in front of the school.

The suspected attackers tried to trigger the bomb with a mobile phone nine times, but the device failed to activate.

The chief of the teacher escort unit informed the police send the bomb disposal squad to the school after he found the device while he was sweeping the area. (TNA)

http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=11124

-- TNA 03/08/09

It is so sad that this sort of thing happens anywhere in the world, and of course even worse that it is not on but in our doorstep.

Good on the unit chief for finding it and perhaps preventing a huge calamity.

Soldier, insurgent killed in Thai south shootout

Aug 3 (Reuters) - Two people were killed and five others injured in a gunfight between troops and separatist rebels in Thailand's Muslim south, the army said on Monday.

The incident took place in Narathiwat, one of three provinces bordering Malaysia where close to 3,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004.

The shootout erupted when insurgents ambushed an army patrol in the province's Yi-Ngo district, killing a soldier and wounding five others. One of the militants was shot dead but the others fled, an army spokesman said.

A day earlier, a security guard was shot dead by suspected insurgents while riding a motorcycle in neighbouring Pattani province.

Despite flooding the once independent Malay-Muslim region with 30,000 troops, Thailand is no closer to halting the violence, which no group has claimed responsibility for.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSBKK180940

-- Reuters 03/08/09

Bomb found at school entrance

By John Le Fevre

NARATHIWAT (thaivisa.com): -- An Army bomb disposal squad has diffused a three-kilogram (about 6.1lb) homemade bomb left at the entrance to a school in the southern border province of Narathiwat on Monday.

The bomb was found at the entrance of a school in Rue So district where a military teacher protection unit checkpoint is located, as the area was being checked by the head of the unit.

Police suspect the bomb was placed at the school by insurgents planning to attack the unit and claim those responsible for it tried to detonate it on nine separate occasions by mobile phone but it failed to detonate.

A bomb disposal team was sent to deal with the device, which is now being examined for clues to its makers after being disarmed.

-- thaivisa.com 2009-08-04

Hello, I am disappointed that the bomb did not blow up in the face of the builder. Cheers.