Car bomb havoc in Thailand

ONE DEAD, FIVE CRITICAL AND SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO HOTEL, SHOPS

Acar bomb exploded in a nightlife district in Thailand’s deep south, killing one and wounding more than 30, in a nation already on edge after a bombing spree that targeted tourist towns.

The latest blast struck late on Tuesday outside a hotel in Pattani, one of three Muslim-majority southern provinces battered by a long-running and shadowy rebellion against the Buddhist-majority state.

“So far there is one killed and more than 30 injured,” Major-General Thanongsak Wangsupa, Pattani provincial police commander, said yesterday. “The hotel building was considerably damaged.”

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 and 12, leaving four dead and 37 injured.

Those attacks heightened concerns Thailand’s southern insurgency may have spread north after years of stalled peace talks.

After the Pattani hotel blast, Thailand’s deputy junta leader, Prawit Wongsuwan, said any negotiations with the rebels would be shelved until violence subsides.

The 90kg bomb was hidden inside a stolen hospital vehicle and detonated shortly after a smaller explosive at a nearby bar. “The car was parked in front of the hotel lobby for a few minutes after the first bomb went off and people were not suspicious because it was a hospital vehicle,” said Colonel Pramote Prom-in, a southern army spokesperson.

A staff member at Pattani’s hospital said 32 people were injured, five of them critically.

There has been a palpable in- crease in attacks over the past few months, particularly around a recent referendum on a new charter penned by the junta that seized power in 2014. The charter was approved by a majority but rejected in the three insurgency-wracked provinces. – AFP

Picture: AFP REFERENDUM RESPONSE. A forensics unit inspects the site of a deadly bomb blast outside a hotel in the southern province of Pattani. Towns have been targeted in a bombing spree recently.