Bomb kills two as Thai PM meets security advisers

A bomb ripped through two bars in southern Thailand yesterday, killing two people and wounding about 20, in what could be the first reaction to the deaths of 85 Muslim protesters this week.

The blast came just hours after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met security advisers amid fears of Muslim outrage over the deaths of the protesters, who included 78 people who suffocated in military custody.

A Malaysian man and a Thai woman were killed in the blast, doctors said.

Two other Malaysians were among the wounded. Officials said the blast shattered windows and brought down the roofs of two bars in the border town of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat, the same province where the 85 died on Monday.

Just a few hours earlier, the bodies of 22 victims of Monday's tragedy were buried at a makeshift gravesite next to a mosque in Narathiwat town.

Muslim leaders have warned of a violent backlash to the deaths, in which 78 people suffocated when they were crammed into army trucks and driven five hours to a military barracks after being arrested during a protest.