Bomb blasts kill one, wound 30 in southern Thailand

Published August 24, 2016
Damage is seen after a blast outside a hotel in the southern province of Pattani, Thailand.— Reuters
Damage is seen after a blast outside a hotel in the southern province of Pattani, Thailand.— Reuters

BANGKOK: One Thai person was killed and 30 wounded when two bombs exploded late on Tuesday near a hotel in the southern Thai coastal town of Pattani, police said, less than two weeks after a wave of unexplained bombings hit the south.

The first blast in a parking lot behind the Southern View Hotel caused no casualties, Police Lieutenant Colonel Winyu Tiamraj told Reuters on Wednesday. He said all the casualties were Thais.

"The second explosion came from a truck parked at the hotel entrance, opposite a karaoke bar and a massage parlour, resulting in one death and 30 injuries," he said.

Colonel Yutthanam Petchmuang, a spokesman for the military's Internal Security Operations Command, said the car used for the second bomb was a stolen hospital pick-up truck that had been mistaken for an ambulance.

The blasts came less than two weeks after a series of explosions targeting high-profile beach resorts hit seven Thai provinces in the south, killing four people and wounding dozens.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan quickly ruled out any link between those attacks and the latest bombings.

"I am sure that the incident in Pattani last night has nothing to do with the seven provinces attacks," Prawit told reporters at Bangkok's Government House, without giving any further details.

Tourism is one of the only growth sectors in Thailand, and accounts for 10 per cent of an economy that has struggled under the stewardship of a military government that seized power two years ago.

No group has claimed responsibility for the wave of bombings on Aug 11 and 12, but some security experts noted at the time that southern insurgent groups have a track record of carrying out coordinated bombing attacks.

Since 2004, a low-intensity but brutal war between government troops and insurgents has killed more than 6,500 people in the southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat that border Malaysia.

The three provinces soundly rejected a referendum earlier this month on the new military-backed constitution, which passed convincingly in most of the rest of the country.

Peace talks between the government and a handful of insurgent groups began in 2013 under the civilian government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but have stalled since the military overthrew her in 2014.

Prawit said the military government would not enter talks with separatist groups until there was peace in the region.

"It has to be peaceful first and then we can discuss," Prawit told reporters.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said after his weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that there were "no quick fixes in the south".

Opinion

Editorial

Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....
Rigging claims
Updated 04 May, 2024

Rigging claims

The PTI’s allegations are not new; most elections in Pakistan have been controversial, and it is almost a given that results will be challenged by the losing side.
Gaza’s wasteland
04 May, 2024

Gaza’s wasteland

SINCE the start of hostilities on Oct 7, Israel has put in ceaseless efforts to depopulate Gaza, and make the Strip...
Housing scams
04 May, 2024

Housing scams

THE story of illegal housing schemes in Punjab is the story of greed, corruption and plunder. Major players in these...