A powerful bomb exploded in a crowded railway station in southern Thailand Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding 73 others, police said.
The blast in Hat Yai, about 500 miles south of Bangkok near the Malaysian border, came during a visit to the city by Chamlong Srimuang, leader of last May's political uprising, to campaign for the Sept. 13 elections.However, state-run Thai television said a letter signed by a Muslim insurgent group, the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO), was later found in the station demanding independence for southern Thailand.
Government and police officials said it was not clear if the attack was politically motivated, or carried out by the PULO.
"There are few terrorists in the south now, but there might be some left," Police Gen. Manas Krutchaiyan said in Bang-kok.
A police spokesman in Hat Yai said the bomb exploded at about 1 p.m. under the ticket counter of the city's railway station.