Bomb kills one, injures 20 in Yala Yala - A bomb ripped through at an intersection in the heart of Yala Tuesdsay morning, killing one police officer and wounding at least 20 people, including three journalists, who were at the scene to investigate a smaller blast about half an hour earlier, police said.
The bomb appeared to have been targeting the police and forensic officers who were lured by an earlier bomb that was much smaller.
Authorities were ill prepared as they carried out their investigation. There were no fire fighters or medical personnel in waiting. The blaze from the bomb set one officers from an ordinance unit on fire. His colleague desperately tried to put out the fire that had engulfed his entire body.
The use of second bomb by insurgents has become a common occurrences in the restive region where more than 2,300 people have died since January 2004.
The blast ripped through shop houses and convenient stores at a major intersection across the street from the train station. The bomb also rip up several motorbikes that were parked next to a public taxi stand for passengers travelling on the Yala-Bethong route.
The first bomb was hidden inside a helmet and placed on the motorbike's basket at the time it went off. The second one, much more powerful, appeared to have been set off remotely after several officers arrived at the scene.
Police Sgt. Subin Pruekmongkol, who was severely wounded, was later pronounced dead at the Yala Hospital.
Two other police officers suffered serious injuries, while three local reporters were also hospitalised.
Thirteen passers-by, apparently permitted to observe too close to the crime scene, suffered minor injuries.
Insurgents often use one bomb to lure authorities to a scene where they then trigger a second blast, police said.
Bombings and drive-by shootings have become virtually a daily occurrence in Thailand's far south since an Islamic insurgency flared there in January 2004. The conflict has left more than 2,300 people dead.
The Nation
A police sergeant was killed and at least 18 people were injured in a pair of bomb blasts today in southern Thailand.

Taking place in Yala, the capital of one of Thailand's three southernmost provinces, the first blast, at around 8 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), resulted in no injuries, but drew police and journalists to the scene. Then, about 30 minutes after the initial blast, a second, more powerful bomb went off.

The explosion tore through shops and a motorcycle taxi stand at a major intersection across the street from the city's railway station. 

Police Sergeant Subin Pruekmongkol, 48, who lost his arms and legs in the blast, was taken to Yala Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

At least eight other police officers were wounded, two of them seriously, while four local journalists were also taken to hospital. The injury tolls varied widely, with local news reports saying at least 18 people were injured, while CNN reported that up to 32 people had been hurt.

Police said the first bomb was hidden inside a motorcycle helmet and placed in the front basket of a motorbike. The second blast was set off remotely after people had flocked to the blast site. This tactic of using a smaller bomb as a lure, followed by a second stronger bomb, has become more common in the south Thailand insurgency. Since attacks by separatists in Thailand's Malay Muslim-majority provinces flared up in January 2004, there are have about 2,000 people killed in bombings and almost-daily drive-by shootings.

In a separate violence earlier today in Yala Province, a man was fatally shot in front of a tea shop in Yaha District.

In Bangkok, the central government's Cabinet agreed to extend an emergency law in the southern provinces for another three months. The current round expires on Friday. The emergency powers, which are set for three-month periods, were first enacted in 2005. Among other powers, the decree allows officials the authority to detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge. About 350 suspects have been rounded up and detained under the law in the past few weeks, according to ''The Nation'' newspaper.