A total of seven bombs exploded in Thai southern city of Hat Yai
Sunday night, injuring at least nine people.
The coordinated bomb attacks aimed at different sites were launched
by suspected insurgents at about 9 PM (14:00 GMT), a local police
source told Xinhua.
Police said some of the bombs were hidden in garbage bins and
some were attached to motorcycles. The seven bombs were detonated
almost simultaneously.
The first explosion happened in front of the Siang Tueng
Foundation on Supasarn Sungsang Road of Hat Yai and it was followed
by separate attacks on two local charity organizations, two hotels,
a shopping mall and a restaurant in the tourist city of Songkhla
Province.
At least nine people were injured and a woman among them was in
critical condition, police said.
Police were still checking whether there were attempts to launch
more bomb attacks in the southern town.
Soon after the explosions, Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, army chief
and chairman of the Council for National Security, downplayed the
attacks immediately.
He said he had ordered security agencies concerned, including
the Internal Security Operations Command, to control the
situation.
He said the bombs were only small ones and did not cause much
damage.
"They were only small bombs in milk cans and were aimed to cause
little damage," Sonthi said. "Nothing to worry. Officials are in
control now. They are analyzing information."
The economy of Hat Yai, Thailand's southern hub of
transportation, tourism and culture, has been plagued by violence
after more than two dozens of bombs attacked the South, including
eight in Hat Yai, on Feb. 18 this year.
A high-ranking executive of Hat Yai's JB hotel, which was
attacked on Sunday, told Xinhua earlier that the hotel's tourist
number has declined by 50 percent after the Feb. 18 attacks.
Over the past three-and-a-half years, more than 2,100 people
have died in the violence which plagued Thailand's three
southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. The
violence sometimes also spread to nearby province of Songkhla.
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2007)
