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July 21, 2012

AP: Muslims begin Ramadan fast in Asia; holy month marred by bombings in Thailand’s south

by Niniek Karmini
The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Muslims have begun fasting for the start of the Ramadan holy month in Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere around Asia, but the somber occasion was marred in Buddhist-dominated Thailand by two bomb blasts that killed one person and injured seven.

The Muhammadiyah group, Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, told its 30 million followers that Ramadan starts Friday. The government, however, declared the official start as Saturday, when most of the remaining 190 million Indonesians began the dawn-to-dusk fast.

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