Twin bombs wound 73 in southern Thailand

A car bomb blast at a fruit market and another explosion minutes later at a nearby teashop wounded 73 people in Muslim southern Thailand on Tuesday, where 3,200 people have died in a five-year rebellion, police said.

The first explosion appeared to target an outdoor meeting of village chiefs at a district office in Narathiwat, one of the three southernmost provinces roiled by the violence, police said.

A second device hidden in a motorcycle exploded two minutes later at a tea-shop 100 meters (yards) away, police said.

Five of the victims had shrapnel wounds to the head or torso, and two needed surgery, a state hospital official told Reuters.

Forty were released after treatment for minor injuries, the official added.

Narathiwat and the neighboring provinces of Pattani and Yala, abutting Malaysia, were a Muslim sultanate until annexed by predominantly Bangkok a century ago. Around 80 percent of people there remain Muslim and speak a Malay dialect, not Thai.

The violence has ranged from drive-by shootings and bombings, to beheadings and appears to target both Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, teachers and government officials.