Seven people have been slightly hurt in a car bomb explosion on the tourist island of Koh Samui in Thailand.<br /><br /> The device packed in a pick-up truck caused panic after it went off in a shopping centre car park.<br /><br /> An official said six Thais and a 12-year-old Italian girl were treated in hospital for slight injuries and released.<br /><br /> Reports quoting local sources said the car had been stolen from one of Thailand’s southern provinces, where an Islamist insurgency has caused more than 6,000 deaths in the past decade.<br /><br /> But officials said it wasn’t yet clear where the vehicle came from.<br /><br /> Authorities later on Saturday were quoted as saying the bomb may not be linked to the southern insurgency, but could be part of a wider campaign to cause instability.<br /><br /> A second explosion is said to have badly damaged a nearby supermarket.<br /><br /> The authorities have reportedly said the bombs were designed to destabilise the military, which took power in the country following a coup nearly a year ago.
