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13 hurt as bombs rock Hat Yai
Report from Bangkok Post dated Monday 28 May 2007 :-
13 hurt as bombs rock Hat Yai - Blasts meant to cause panic, says Gen Sonthi
Hat Yai - 7 bombs rocked downtown Hat Yai late last night, injuring 13 people, one seriously, police said. The explosions were the first such attacks in Hat Yai in nearly 8 months since militants detonated 6 bombs almost simultaneously in cafes and bars across the city, killing 4 people and wounding dozens more last September.
The first device was detonated at around 9.00pm and six others exploded at almost the same time, police said.
All locations targeted in the bombings were in Hat Yai city, the business centre of the southern region.
The bombs went off at a house shrine in front of Big C Superstore, Lotus Superstore and Ratri drugstore on Suppasan Rangsan Road, the Tong Siang Tueng intersection, Pab Nai Nang restaurant on Thammanoonvithee Road, an area opposite Hat Yai Garden Home Hotel, and the JB Hotel.
Most of the devices were hidden in motorcycles and garbage bins. However, at the JB hotel an attacker threw an explosive device into the hotel grounds.
Police tried to calm down tourists and residents in the city, who were plunged into panic. The injured, including children and a pregnant women, were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Police Region 9 commissioner Jettanakorn Napeetaphat said he had set up a task force headquarters to react to the attacks believed to have been carried out by separatists. He ordered police to set up checkpoints around Hat Yai in a bid to arrest the perpetrators.
Mobile phone signals were also jammed as a safety measure to prevent any possible detonation of further devices using cell phones. A bomb disposal team was called in to search for any hidden bombs.
The team was able to destroy one device at Lotus hypermarket before it exploded.
''This is the first time our mall was bombed. We're checking on our security cameras,'' said a Lotus administrator.
Besides the injuries, the bombs also causes damage to property, including cars.
The chairman of the Council for National Security, Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, said yesterday that the scale of the bombings indicated that the attackers only wanted to create a disturbance but not cause widespread damage and injuries.
Gen Sonthi, who is also chief of the Internal Security Operations Command, the main agency responsible for security nationwide, called on residents to help authorities keep their eyes out for suspicious activities.
Authorities said the bombing was similar to explosions last September that injured 70 people. The bombs went off around the same time and used the same tactics, they said.
Last year the first device was detonated at around 9.00pm and the other five were set off between five-minute intervals.
The places hit last year were Big C, the Lee Gardens Hotel on Sanehanusorn road, the Monkey Pub on Thammanoonvithee road, the Odean Shopping Mall on Niphat Uthit road, in a cinema toilet near the Diana department store on Sripoovanart road and the sixth one also on Thammanoonvithee road.
Hat Yai international airport was also hit by explosions on April 3 last year.
--- KatoeyNewsNetwork
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