Thai police arrest two after deadly bomb attack at festival
Al Jazeera
Police say a member of rebel group KNU clashed with ‘rival gangster’ in Tak province, but group denies involvement.
Authorities in Thailand have arrested two men following a blast at a festival near the border with Myanmar that killed three people and wounded dozens.
Thai police said an improvised explosive device had been thrown into a crowd on a dance floor at a crowded festival in Umphang district in Thailand’s northern Tak province just before midnight on Friday.
The explosion killed two people instantly, with another dying later in hospital and 48 left injured among the approximately 8,000-9,000 attending the event.
Police said a Thai youth and a man belonging to the Karen National Union (KNU), a rebel group fighting for autonomy in neighbouring Myanmar’s Karen state, had been arrested.
Tak police chief Major-General Samrit Ekamol said the Myanmar suspect had thrown the bomb after encountering a “rival gangster” he had previously fought with.
