Asia-Pacific

Bombs kill 4 in Thai department stores

(AP)
Updated: 2006-09-17 09:05
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BANGKOK, Thailand - A series of bomb blasts ripped through three department stores Saturday night in Thailand's restive south, killing four people and wounding dozens, police said.

Bombs kill 4 in Thai department stores
Thai policemen examine damage after a series of bomb blasts ripped through three department stores, in the region's main commercial center of Hat Yai, south Thailand Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006, killing four and injuring dozens more, police said. The bombs planted on motorbikes were triggered simultaneously at 9:15 p.m. local time in the Hat Yai business district in Songkhla province, Pol. Col. Pattanawut Angkanawin said.[AP]

The attacks in the region's main commercial center of Hat Yai came just hours after the military staged a peace rally in the south, the site of a Muslim insurgency, where it expressed hope that people would work with authorities to end the violence.

Authorities quickly blamed separatist insurgents for the attacks. Since 2004, they have waged a bloody campaign that has killed at least 1,700 people — most civilians.

"We do believe that the insurgents are responsible for the bombs attacked," Lt. Gen. Palangoon Klaharn, the military spokesman, said. "Their intention is to spread fear in the region."

The bombs planted on motorbikes were triggered simultaneously at 9:15 p.m. in the Hat Yai business district in Songkhla province, Pol. Col. Pattanawut Angkanawin said. At least four people were killed, Pattanawut said.

Dr. Prat Bunyawongwiroj, permanent secretary of the health ministry, said on Thai television station Channel 9 that about 60 people have been treated at hospitals.

Television footage showed the vehicles near Odean Shopping Mall in flames and the streets crowded with rescue vehicles and anxious onlookers. Hat Yai is the biggest commercial district in the south and scores of tourists from Malaysia and Singapore do their shopping there.

Two bombs exploded in front of a pub and car park at the Odean Shopping Mall and a third bomb exploded at a nearby massage parlor. A fourth bomb exploded in a Big C department store and another at restroom in Diana Department Stores.

Thai Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin this week ordered military personnel in the deep South to be on high alert from Saturday through Wednesday, after reports of possible attacks by the Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani, an offshoot of the southern militant group Gerakan Mujahidin Pattani, to mark its anniversary.

Insurgents in recent weeks have been more brazen with their attacks and shown an ability to launch coordinated attacks that hit at the region's economy. Last month, they launched a series of daylight attacks against banks in Yala province, killing one, wounding nearly 30 and forcing the temporary closure of many financial institutions.

Most of the violence has taken place in Muslim dominated areas of the south, including the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Citizens there have complained of rights abuses by soldiers and discrimination by the country's Buddhist majority.