Market blast wounds 8 in Thailand’s restive south

PATTANI— Police say suspected insurgents have detonated a bomb at a market in Thailand’s violence-prone south, wounding four soldiers and four civilians.

Police Col. Nitinai Langyanai says the suspected insurgents detonated an improvised explosive device Monday in Narathiwat province’s Takbai district. The device was hidden in a tree at a riverside market, where an army unit had set up a security checkpoint.

Nitinai says four soldiers and four civilians — two men and two women — were wounded and sent to a hospital.

Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since an Islamist insurgency erupted in 2004.

Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim-dominated provinces in the predominantly Buddhist country.