Several bombs exploded in a key city in southern Thailand Wednesday night, killing one attacker and knocking out electricity, police said.
No one immediately took responsibility for the blasts, but police suspected they were linked to a surge of violence by Islamic separatists.
More than 1,100 people have died since a once-dormant separatist movement re-emerged nearly two years ago in the three southern provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
A dozen bombs were planted in at least nine places in Narathiwat — the capital of the province of the same name — but security forces defused seven of them, said Col. Somkuan Saengpatraneth, spokesman for the regional army headquarters.
Somkuan said that police found the body of one of the bombers at the scene, saying it appeared that one bomb went off prematurely.
Separate attacks were reported Wednesday night in the neighboring provinces of Pattani and Yala, where attackers fatally shot a man.
But authorities insisted that things were back under control. “The security forces were able to bring the situation under control in a short period,” Somkuan said.
Up to 10 percent of Thailand’s 65 million people are Muslims. Most live in the three southernmost provinces, where they have long complained of second-class treatment.
Several separatist rebellions have broken out in the area over the past century.