BANGKOK - Suspected Muslim separatists launched a wave of bomb attacks in Thailand's south on Friday in a rare show of coordination in a usually low-level insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Police say "bomb-like" devices were found in at least 60 locations in Narathiwat and Pattani, two of three mainly Muslim provinces bordering mainly Muslim Malaysia, along with scores of Malaysian flags.Most of the devices were fake, but at least a dozen exploded and wounded two soldiers.
A shadowy separatist insurgency by ethnic Malays resurfaced in January 2004, after simmering for decades. Since then, 5,206 people have been killed and 9,137 wounded, according to Deep South Watch, an organization that monitors the violence.
The placing of the flags with the devices was aimed at souring relations between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, an analyst and a security official said.
