Men assist in unloading an injured woman outside a hospital after she was injured bomb blast at a karaoke bar in southern Thailand's Yala province February 18, 2007.(Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BANGKOK, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Two dozens of bombs exploded at entertainment facilities, schools, government buildings, gas stations and power plants late Sunday in Thailand's four southern provinces of Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, causing many people injured.

    At about 19:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT), several bombs were triggered by suspected insurgents at karaoke bars in Hat Yai, the economic hub of Songkhla. Many important places in Songkhla were also burnt.

    Meanwhile, in nearby Narathiwat, at least one person was killed and 10 were wounded in blasts at five karaoke bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok, police radio said. Local schools and mosques in Narathiwat were also burnt.

    Almost at the same time, more than 10 bombs were triggered in nearby Yala Province. At least 23 people were wounded in and around Yala's provincial capital, according to a witness at the main hospital. Local officials ordered Yala residents to stay home to avoid more bomb attacks during night.

    In Pattani, police Radio said Pattani's provincial capital fell dark after a bomb knocked out a power station.

    Local reports said five minutes after the blackout in the Pattani, teenagers on motorcycles, wearing black and white scarfs went on a rampage on streets. There were reportedly ambushes government offices and several residences in many districts. One house was burnt down in Yaring district. One suspect was arrested in Sai Buri district.

    Prachet Sukkeaw, the governor of local power authority, said the power supply will be resumed before Monday dawn.

    Insurgents also shot police and military officials and blocked routes in the three southern provinces.

    Initial details were sketchy. But Gen. Akon Tiperojn, the director of public relations department of Thai Southern Military-Police Headquarter, said at least three were confirmed dead and more than 70 others were injured during the coordinated bombings and shootings.

    Local police and military have set up dozens of check points in the southern area to hunt the suspects.

    Gen. Surayud Chulanont, the prime minister installed by military after last year's coup, said on Sunday night that he was closely monitoring the situation in the South, but till now, it was not necessary to impose more strict ban on the South.

    No immediate emergent meeting on southern security was called on by the government after the bombings.

    More than 1,900 people have died in the deep South, comprising Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, over the past three years where a long-simmering separatist struggle has escalated into a major security problem for Thailand.

    Thailand on Friday agreed to allow neighboring Malaysia to play a mediator role in setting up negotiations with the various groups behind the mounting campaign of terror against the region's non-Muslim population.

    More than 80 percent of the 2 million people living in Thailand' s deep South are Muslim of ethnic Malay decent, with closer cultural affinities with neighboring Malaysia than with the predominantly Buddhist Thai state.

    A separatist struggle has simmered in the three-province region for the past five to six decades, fueled by the local population's sense of religious and cultural alienation from predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

    The movement took a more militant turn in January 2004 after Muslim militants attacked an army arms depot and stole 300 rifles.

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