From The Nation, 17 sep 06:
SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
Six blasts rock Hat Yai
Two foreigners among five killed in attacks on hotel, department stores
Five people were killed and about 60 injured in a series of six explosions in Hat Yai's business centre last night. The blasts went off at two shopping malls, one of the city's biggest hotels and three other locations.
Witnesses said the bombs went off at roughly five-minute intervals starting at around 9pm, when the area was crowded with tourists and locals going out to dine and for night entertainment.
Two of the dead were foreigners - one Chinese and one Westerner. The injured were sent to nearby hospitals including Raj Yindee Hospital, Krungthep-Hadyai Hospital and Songkhla Nakharin Hospital.
The first bomb to go off was on Thammanoon Withi Road, at the entrance to a pub called Deep Wonder in the basement of the Odean Shopping Mall. The second bomb went off at a junction a few hundred metres down the road, and the third one another few hundred metres on.
The fourth bomb went off in front of the Lee Garden Hotel, destroying tuk-tuks parked there.
The fifth explosion was at the Big C Supercentre and the last was in a restroom of a movie theatre on the fifth floor of Diana Shopping Centre.
The bombs damaged a numbers of cars and motorcycles in the vicinity.
Police said each blast had a radius of 20 metres and that they had found pieces of metal suspected to be part of the bombs.
Officials believe the bomb at the Odean Shopping Mall was planted inside a motorcycle and detonated by mobile phone. Soon after the explosions, all unattended motorcycles nearby were moved away and people were evacuated from the area for fear of more explosions.
Thammanoonwithi Road is one of the most crowded roads in Hat Yai City, with more than 10 hotels along its length. More than 1,000 tourists, both Thais and foreigners, were checked in at the hotels. All were evacuated.
Senior Police Officer Ongkorn Thongprasom said police had received reports that such bomb attacks were likely between September 16 and 20.
"After this bombing, we have to seriously discuss security measures for the area. For sure, the impact on tourism will be large," he said.
Just two weeks ago, intelligence officials predicted stronger, more vigorous attacks by militants in the deep South between September 16 and 20 since this is the week to celebrate the setting up of the Pattani Islamic Mujahideen and Pattani State.
Srisompob Jitpiromsri, an academic who studies trends in the insurgency, said after a spate of bombings in Yala two weeks ago that the insurgents would continue to "show their force" through more coordinated, simultaneous attacks.
Two Foreigners die in Hat Yai Big C bombs
A bit more detail in this report. Pete
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HAT YAI, Thailand (AFP) - Thai police picked through the wreckage for clues after a string of bombs tore apart a popular tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens in troubled southern Thailand.
The six simultaneous blasts ripped through Saturday night crowds in bars and cafes in Hat Yai, the main tourist hub in the southern region that has been gripped by a Muslim insurgency which has killed more than 1,400 people.
A Canadian tourist was among the latest dead, according to officials. A dead female mistakenly identified by medical staff as a Chinese tourist turned out later to be an ethnic minority from Chiang Mai, hospital officials said.
Health minister Pinit Jarusombat said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, and included six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
Paitoon Pattanasophon, police chief in Songkhla province, where Hat Yai is located, said police were holding emergency meetings during the morning as the hunt for suspects got underway.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has ordered his deputies to work closely with police and military, his secretary said.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Prasit Paochoo said two explosive devices were planted inside motorcycles and detonated with a mobile phone.
The other four were planted near the entrances of two department stores and a hotel frequented by foreigners, he said, adding that police were still unsure what kind of bombs they were.
As dawn broke in the city, crowds of shocked onlookers gathered amid the wreckage. Walls were studded with shrapnel at the sites, which were covered with debris and pools of blood.
"I heard the blast and I live a kilometer away", said one bystander as others stood numbly on the edges of devastated restaurants.
Several charred vehicles lay in the road where they had burned the night before.
Outside the Brown Sugar Bar and Cafe an Australian visitor still wearing his hospital gown stood staring at the wreckage of where he was drinking the night before.
"I feel really lucky today," said the distraught man, who did not give his name, adding that doctors had removed shrapnel from his shoulder and his girlfriend suffered multiple fractures to her leg.
In the immediate aftermath of the blasts, Thai television showed bloodied victims lying in restaurants or being led to safety by rescue personnel as vehicles burned in streets, which were strewn with shattered glass and overturned tables and chairs.
One body was shown covered with a white sheet next to an overturned motorcycle as firemen tried to douse several blazing vehicles nearby.
Soon after the blasts, nearly 1,000 foreign and Thai tourists staying in hotels along Hat Yai's main road were evacuated, the Nation newspaper reported.
Hat Yai was also the victim of deadly insurgent violence in April of last year when the city's airport was bombed, killing two people, and the city has been struggling to rebuild its tourism industry.
Parts of Songkhla province are under martial law as the government struggles to contain an Islamic insurgency, and provincial governor Somporn Chaibangyang said the attacks would further damage Hat Yai's tourism sector, which is still recovering from the airport blasts.
"We need to work hard to regain our tourism," he said.
"Authorities have to work completely to prevent any violence from happening. But it is difficult to keep watching every single area, as wrongdoers will make violence in the area where they think they will have the most success," he said.
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HAT YAI, Thailand (AFP) - Thai police picked through the wreckage for clues after a string of bombs tore apart a popular tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens in troubled southern Thailand.
The six simultaneous blasts ripped through Saturday night crowds in bars and cafes in Hat Yai, the main tourist hub in the southern region that has been gripped by a Muslim insurgency which has killed more than 1,400 people.
A Canadian tourist was among the latest dead, according to officials. A dead female mistakenly identified by medical staff as a Chinese tourist turned out later to be an ethnic minority from Chiang Mai, hospital officials said.
Health minister Pinit Jarusombat said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, and included six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
Paitoon Pattanasophon, police chief in Songkhla province, where Hat Yai is located, said police were holding emergency meetings during the morning as the hunt for suspects got underway.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has ordered his deputies to work closely with police and military, his secretary said.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Prasit Paochoo said two explosive devices were planted inside motorcycles and detonated with a mobile phone.
The other four were planted near the entrances of two department stores and a hotel frequented by foreigners, he said, adding that police were still unsure what kind of bombs they were.
As dawn broke in the city, crowds of shocked onlookers gathered amid the wreckage. Walls were studded with shrapnel at the sites, which were covered with debris and pools of blood.
"I heard the blast and I live a kilometer away", said one bystander as others stood numbly on the edges of devastated restaurants.
Several charred vehicles lay in the road where they had burned the night before.
Outside the Brown Sugar Bar and Cafe an Australian visitor still wearing his hospital gown stood staring at the wreckage of where he was drinking the night before.
"I feel really lucky today," said the distraught man, who did not give his name, adding that doctors had removed shrapnel from his shoulder and his girlfriend suffered multiple fractures to her leg.
In the immediate aftermath of the blasts, Thai television showed bloodied victims lying in restaurants or being led to safety by rescue personnel as vehicles burned in streets, which were strewn with shattered glass and overturned tables and chairs.
One body was shown covered with a white sheet next to an overturned motorcycle as firemen tried to douse several blazing vehicles nearby.
Soon after the blasts, nearly 1,000 foreign and Thai tourists staying in hotels along Hat Yai's main road were evacuated, the Nation newspaper reported.
Hat Yai was also the victim of deadly insurgent violence in April of last year when the city's airport was bombed, killing two people, and the city has been struggling to rebuild its tourism industry.
Parts of Songkhla province are under martial law as the government struggles to contain an Islamic insurgency, and provincial governor Somporn Chaibangyang said the attacks would further damage Hat Yai's tourism sector, which is still recovering from the airport blasts.
"We need to work hard to regain our tourism," he said.
"Authorities have to work completely to prevent any violence from happening. But it is difficult to keep watching every single area, as wrongdoers will make violence in the area where they think they will have the most success," he said.
HAT YAI, Thailand (AFP) - Hundreds have cancelled holidays in southern Thailand after a series of weekend blasts ripped apart a tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens, officials have said.
"Malaysian and Singapore tourists, who are majority of our customers, have cancelled their reservations, citing the bomb scares," said a receptionist at Hat Yai's Novotel Central Hotel.
"Before this, we were fully booked every weekend."
Thai police have yet to make any arrests over Saturday's attacks in the main southern tourist hub of Hat Yai, with one senior officer saying it would take time to investigate each of the six bombs which exploded.
The unrest continued Sunday night as militants torched school buildings overnight, including a daycare center, and destroyed several vehicles.
They also tried to bomb a military convoy in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces gripped by an Islamic insurgency, police said.
No one was hurt in the attacks, which police said were meant to sow fear amongst a nervous populace, already shaken by daily shootings and bombings.
"These were efforts by a group of people who want to see the public in chaos," police Major General Yongyuth Charoenvanit told AFP.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since January 2004, and experts warn the violence appears to be intensifying.
Saturday's bombings killed four people -- three Thais and a Canadian national who was the first foreigner to die in the insurgency.
Health minister Pinit Jarusombat said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, including six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
The bombers targeted a strip of bars and restaurants popular with tourists in what experts say marked an escalation in the insurgency, which had so far targeted mainly police or military, but not foreigners.
Officials warn that with the latest attacks, the region's tourism sector has been dealt a serious blow.
" Apart from the cancellation of existing bookings, we are afraid that the latest attack in Songkhla (province) would affect ... tourists' decision to come to Thailand," said Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA).
"If the government fails to reassure tourists over the southern unrest, the overall tourism sector will be affected, especially along the Andaman coastline," Apichart said, referring to a region that is home to several tourist stops.
Thailand's Tourism Authority called Monday for more security measures at airports and tourist destinations.
"It is worrying that the violence in the south has been expanding to other provinces," said authority spokesperson Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya.
"Security checks at airports must be stepped up, even it means bothering tourists," Chattan added.
On Sunday, Thailand's Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn made a rare public visit to Hat Yai where he spoke with residents and tourists, offering the royal family's support.
Thailand's 12 billion-dollar-a-year tourism sector is only just recovering from the Christmas 2004 tsunami, which devastated much of the kingdom's western coastline, killing more than 2,000 foreign holidaymakers and devastating top tourist spots like Phuket.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has offered to reward police who make arrests over the Hat Yai bombings, which he said were linked to the southern insurgency, the Thai News Agency reported Monday.
"We need to continually fight the (insurgency), because the overview of the situation is not good," said Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya.
National Police Chief Kowit Wattana said police in Hat Yai have been reinforced and that officers "were working hard on the investigation".
"Malaysian and Singapore tourists, who are majority of our customers, have cancelled their reservations, citing the bomb scares," said a receptionist at Hat Yai's Novotel Central Hotel.
"Before this, we were fully booked every weekend."
Thai police have yet to make any arrests over Saturday's attacks in the main southern tourist hub of Hat Yai, with one senior officer saying it would take time to investigate each of the six bombs which exploded.
The unrest continued Sunday night as militants torched school buildings overnight, including a daycare center, and destroyed several vehicles.
They also tried to bomb a military convoy in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces gripped by an Islamic insurgency, police said.
No one was hurt in the attacks, which police said were meant to sow fear amongst a nervous populace, already shaken by daily shootings and bombings.
"These were efforts by a group of people who want to see the public in chaos," police Major General Yongyuth Charoenvanit told AFP.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since January 2004, and experts warn the violence appears to be intensifying.
Saturday's bombings killed four people -- three Thais and a Canadian national who was the first foreigner to die in the insurgency.
Health minister Pinit Jarusombat said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, including six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
The bombers targeted a strip of bars and restaurants popular with tourists in what experts say marked an escalation in the insurgency, which had so far targeted mainly police or military, but not foreigners.
Officials warn that with the latest attacks, the region's tourism sector has been dealt a serious blow.
" Apart from the cancellation of existing bookings, we are afraid that the latest attack in Songkhla (province) would affect ... tourists' decision to come to Thailand," said Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA).
"If the government fails to reassure tourists over the southern unrest, the overall tourism sector will be affected, especially along the Andaman coastline," Apichart said, referring to a region that is home to several tourist stops.
Thailand's Tourism Authority called Monday for more security measures at airports and tourist destinations.
"It is worrying that the violence in the south has been expanding to other provinces," said authority spokesperson Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya.
"Security checks at airports must be stepped up, even it means bothering tourists," Chattan added.
On Sunday, Thailand's Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn made a rare public visit to Hat Yai where he spoke with residents and tourists, offering the royal family's support.
Thailand's 12 billion-dollar-a-year tourism sector is only just recovering from the Christmas 2004 tsunami, which devastated much of the kingdom's western coastline, killing more than 2,000 foreign holidaymakers and devastating top tourist spots like Phuket.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has offered to reward police who make arrests over the Hat Yai bombings, which he said were linked to the southern insurgency, the Thai News Agency reported Monday.
"We need to continually fight the (insurgency), because the overview of the situation is not good," said Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya.
National Police Chief Kowit Wattana said police in Hat Yai have been reinforced and that officers "were working hard on the investigation".