One man was killed and three people injured when a bomb exploded on the tracks in front of a railway station in the southern Thai province of Pattani on Saturday evening.

The explosion took place around 5:30 p.m. at the Ban Nikhom Khok Pho station, said Pramot Juichuay, a duty-officer at the Khok Pho police station, adding that the bomb was placed on the tracks and exploded when the train passed over it as it passed the station, according to Bangkok Post newspaper.

The force of the explosion blew away half of the last carriage, killed a railway employee who was sitting in the carriage and hurt an employee and a defense volunteer.

The train was on its way from the southern border town of Songkhla at the time of the blast.

Police believe the blast was linked to the southern insurgency that haunted Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, the three southernmost provinces, for more than 10 years.

Source : XINHUA