Perilous
Times
Thailand: Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated
attacks in years, killing 14 people and wounding 340 with car
bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers and a high-rise hotel
frequented by foreign tourists.
From correspondents in Thailand
AP
April 01, 2012 6:30AM
SUSPECTED Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated
attacks in years in Thailand's restive south, killing 14 people
and wounding 340 with car bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers
and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists.
A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck
ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of
Yala city, a main commercial hub of Thailand's restive southern
provinces, said district police chief Col. Kritsada Kaewchandee.
About 20 minutes later, just as onlookers gathered at the blast
site, a second car bomb exploded, causing the majority of
casualties. Eleven people were killed and 110 wounded by the
blasts.
More than 5000 people have been killed in Thailand's three
southernmost provinces - Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala - since an
Islamist insurgency flared in January 2004.
"This is the worst attack in the past few years," said Col Pramote
Promin, deputy spokesman of a regional security agency. "The
suspected insurgents were targeting people's lives. They (chose) a
bustling commercial area, so they wanted to harm people."
Most attacks are small-scale bombings or drive-by shootings that
target soldiers, police and symbols of authority, but suspected
insurgents have also staged large attacks in commercial areas.
Separately, a blast occurred at a high-rise hotel in the city of
Hat Yai, in the nearby province of Songkhla, that officials
initially attributed to a gas leak and said was unrelated to the
attacks blamed on insurgents.
The midday explosion at the 405-room Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel,
where throngs of Malaysian and Singaporean tourists spend their
weekends, killed three people and caused about 230 injuries,
mostly from smoke inhalation, said police Lt Puwadon
Wiriyawarangkun.
After inspecting the hotel's underground parking lot, authorities
found a severely damaged sedan and a hole created by the
explosion's impact.
Regional police chief Lt Gen Jakthip Chaijinda said the Hat Yai
incident "is likely related to what happened in Yala and might
have been plotted by the same group of insurgents."
Police said the blast that occurred at the underground level of
the hotel had ripped the building's cooking gas pipeline, causing
a fire that sent smoke spiraling into the upper floors and
trapping many people in their rooms until rescuers came. One of
the fatalities was identified as a Malaysian tourist.
A McDonald's restaurant on the hotel's ground floor appeared to
have suffered heavy damage from the blast.
The hotel was also targeted in 2006, when four people including a
Canadian man were killed by six bombs that had been planted on Hat
Yai's main street. Hat Yai and the rest of Songkhla province have
generally been spared the violence that has wracked Narathiwat,
Pattani and Yala.
In Saturday's third incident, suspected Muslim militants detonated
a motorcycle bomb 50 meters (55 yards) away from a local police
station in Pattani province's Mae Lan district, wounding one
police officer, according to police Col. Tharet Kaewla-eiad.
The Yala bombings occurred on a road that was previously heavily
guarded by checkpoints and closed to traffic to ensure safety. But
the security was lifted in 2011 after local vendors said the
measures harmed their businesses.
Initial accounts of the Yala attack cited three blasts with
explosives planted in cars and motorcycles but officials later
corrected themselves.
In October last year, suspected militants staged coordinated
attacks at more than 30 spots across Yala city, killing three
people and injuring more than 50. A month earlier, a trio of bombs
hidden in vehicles hit a busy section of Sungai Kolok in
Narathiwat province, killing four people and leaving more than 60
wounded.
Thai authorities have imposed a state of emergency since 2005 that
gives security forces special powers to arrest and detain suspects
in the three provinces. But the decree and a massive security
presence have failed to curb the violence and little is known
about the militants or their goals.
The insurgents have made no public pronouncements but are thought
to be fighting for an independent Muslim state. The area used to
be an Islamic sultanate until it was annexed by Thailand in the
early 20th century.
Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim-dominated
provinces in the predominantly Buddhist country. Muslims in the
area have long complained of discrimination by the central
government.