One killed, dozens hurt in Thailand car bombing
A CAR bomb exploded in a nightlife district in Thailand’s deep south, killing one and wounding over 30, in a nation already on edge after a bombing spree that targeted tourist towns.
The latest blast struck late Tuesday outside a hotel in Pattani, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces battered by a long-running and shadowy rebellion against the Buddhistmajority state.
“So far there is one killed and more than 30 injured,” Major General Thanongsak Wangsupa, Pattani provincial police commander, said yesterday.
Pictures showed fires burning on the road outside the hotel’s shattered facade, with police picking through the rubble. Nearby a car was destroyed, with karaoke bars, massage parlours and restaurants also damaged.
Pattani is not popular with tourists, but analysts said the militants were sending a message after coordinated bomb and arson attacks struck multiple resort towns on August 11-12, leaving four dead and 37 injured including Europeans.
Those attacks heightened concerns the southern insurgency may have spread north after years of stalled peace talks – a theory the country’s junta has downplayed given the importance of tourism to the economy.
The entertainment district hit by the car bomb is one of only a handful in the restive south, offering bars, a disco and prostitution, said Don Pathan, a security analyst based in the region. “It’s the type of place that society around here frowns upon,” he said.
The southern rebels focus most of their attacks on security officers and symbols of the state, but they do occasionally strike nightlife venues.
Speaking to reporters after the Pattani hotel blast, Thailand’s deputy junta leader Prawit Wongsuwan again dismissed any link between the tourist town attacks earlier this month and the southern insurgency.
The 90 kilogram bomb was hidden inside a stolen hospital vehicle and detonated shortly after a smaller explosive at a nearby bar. The first blast did not cause any injuries.
“The car was parked in front of the hotel lobby for a few minutes after first bomb went off and people were not suspicious because it was a hospital vehicle,” said Colonel Pramote Prom-in, a southern army spokesman.
The so-called “double tap” tactic is often adopted by the southern insurgents and was used in many of the recent attacks on tourist sites further north.
A staff member at Pattani’s local hospital said 32 people were injured, five of them critically. All are Thai nationals, the worker added, asking not to be named.