Yala, August 31 :

A wave of small bombs exploded almost simultaneously early today at 22 banks in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, leaving one person dead and at least 29 injured, officials said.

Militants, dressed as students, left the bombs hidden inside books at commercial banks across the province of Yala, Lieutenant General Ong-korn Thongprasom told Thai television.

“Two suspects were arrested in connection with the bomb attacks. Mostly the militants used young men dressed in student uniforms to plant small bombs which were hidden inside books,” he said. Nopporn Thammasart, branch manager of the Bank of Ayudhya in Yala, said his staff received a telephone call warning of a bomb just minutes before the blast injured two of his customers.

The blasts shattered windows but caused relatively little damage at the banks. Most of the banks in the region closed immediately, and the Bank of Thailand said most would remain closed tomorrow to make repairs. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the government had sent intelligence reports to security officials in the region warning of an imminent attack. “We learned about the attack in advance through our intelligence and we had warned local officials,” he told reporters.Thailand’s top security official, deputy PM Chidchai Vanasathidya, said the separatists, who are mainly ethnic Malay, wanted the attacks today to coincide with independence day in Malaysia. “We warned security forces in the region that the militants may stage attacks today to mark the Malaysian national day,” he told reporters. The bombs exploded at 10 banks in Yala, police said.

The blasts came as some 5,000 Muslims gathered to pray for peace early today at a school in Yala, which has seen a surge in attacks over the last month. Two Muslim men were shot dead in Yala during the night, police added.