Bomb attack wounds 9 in southern Thailand

BANGKOK — Police say a remote-controlled bomb has exploded in violence-plagued southern Thailand, wounding nine people, including three monks.

Police Lt. Fahamee Hengpiya says the monks were collecting alms when a bomb hidden in a planter on the sidewalk went off Monday morning.

The wounded include three police who were escorting the monks and three elderly men who were nearby.

Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and parts of Songkla provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. Nearly 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamist insurgency erupted in the region in 2004.

Buddhist monks have frequently been targeted, prompting authorities to assign police escorts for the monks as they collect alms in the mornings.