Thai security officials inspect burned shopping mall

BANGKOK, September 2 (TNA) - Security investigators in Thailand’s southern Narathiwat province are evaluating damage at a major shopping mall, which suffered Friday night a bomb blast and ensuing fire. Sunday's inspection on the fire-gutted “Super Department Store” was led by Police Colonel Tawee Sodsong, secretary-general of Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC). Estimates had suggested that damages to the compound could reach over 50 million baht in value. Meanwhile, a coordinated taskforce had raided a house in Narathiwat’s Sungai Kolok district, where two men accused of planting bombs inside a public phone booth on August 30 were arrested. Another search operation on the house of a village chief in Narathiwat’s Waeng district, who was allegedly involved in unrest on August 31, also turned up with 12,000 methamphetamine pills worth 200,000 baht in value. The suspect had been placed under police custody pending further investigation. (TNA)