Eleven people have been wounded in a bomb attack outside a mosque in southern Thailand in what police officials describe as an attempt to pit Muslims against Buddhists.
The mosque is located in Yala, the same province where suspected Muslim insurgents shot and killed eight people traveling in a commuter van earlier Wednesday.
All of the slain passengers were Buddhist. The Muslim driver of the van and another passenger survived the attack with injuries.
Yala is one of three southern Thai provinces caught up in a Muslim separatist insurgency that has killed 2,000 people over the past three years.
Thai authorities have increased security throughout the region this week for the anniversary of the 1963 founding of an area separatist group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional. Police are concerned militants could mark the anniversary with violence.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
