SYDNEY, Australia-- A bomb attack wounded 27 people Monday in a Thai tourist town

By MERAIAH FOLEY
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 10:08 AM






SYDNEY, Australia -- A bomb attack wounded 27 people Monday in a Thai tourist town where people had gathered to celebrate the New Year, officials said.

Muslim insurgents were suspected in the attack in Sungai Kolok on the border with Malaysia, where two blasts went off inside a hotel discotheque and one in the basket of a motorcycle outside a hotel, army spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said.

A blaze in fireworks stalls injured two people in the Philippines but celebrations elsewhere went off without incident. A million revelers cheered in Australia as fireworks sprayed from Sydney's iconic Harbor Bridge in a massive display ignited at the stroke of midnight.

Thousands in Sydney staked out harborside vantage points with beach umbrellas and ice boxes from first light Monday to enjoy Australia's annual centerpiece celebration.

Others joined a flotilla of 3,000 boats beneath the giant steel arch bridge for the 12-minute show, which saw $527,000 in pyrotechnics launched from barges, city roof tops and the bridge.