Bombs explode in department stores, hotel in south

[taurus75]

Bombs explode in department stores, hotel in southern Thailand
Posted: 16 September 2006 2340 hrs

BANGKOK - Bombs exploded in two department stores and a hotel in southern Thailand Saturday night, killing at least one person and wounding many more, police and military said.

The blasts occurred at the Odean and Big C stores, as well as the Lee Garden Hotel in Songkhla province's Hat Yai city, the largest city in southern Thailand, according to officials and news reports.

Television news reports quoted Thai army Lieutenant General Ongkorn Thongprasom as saying that at least one person was killed at the Odean, and that there were many more wounded.

Police have said two people have died so far and at least 10 are wounded, according to reports.

TV news showed images of bloodied victims lying in restaurants or being led to safety by rescue personnel amid vehicles burning in streets strewn with shattered glass and overturned tables and chairs.

"There are injured people, but it is too early to know how many," one police officer told AFP.

Parts of Songkhla province are under martial law as the government struggles to contain an Islamic insurgency that has killed more than 1,400 people since 2004, mostly in the three southern-most Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia.

[bahnoo]

Urgent: Five killed, 50 injured in Hat Yai bomb attacks

Hat Yai, Songkhla - Five people were killed and over 50 others were injured in four bomb attacks Saturday night.

The four bombs went off nearly at the same time at 9 pm.

The first blast occurred at the entrance to This' Wonder Pub located in the underground floor of Odion Shopping Mall Center on Thammanoon Withi Road.

Then, another bomb went off at the entrance of the car park of Odion Shopping Mall on the side of Sanehha Nusorn Road.

The third bomb exploded in front of a massage parlour about 70 metres away from the two first bombs.

The fourth bomb exploded in front of Big C superstore.

Police said the bomb at the massage parlour killed five men immediately because the blast occurred while they were walking into the parlour.

About 50 injured people had been rushed to the Hat Yai Hospital.

The sounds of the blasts prompted some 1,000 Thai and foreign tourists to flee from their hotels, causing turmoil on the roads.

The Nation

[bahnoo]

SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
Six blasts rock Hat Yai

Two foreigners among five killed in attacks on hotel, department stores


Five people were killed and about 60 injured in a series of six explosions in Hat Yai's business centre last night. The blasts went off at two shopping malls, one of the city's biggest hotels and three other locations.


Witnesses said the bombs went off at roughly five-minute intervals starting at around 9pm, when the area was crowded with tourists and locals going out to dine and for night entertainment.


Two of the dead were foreigners - one Chinese and one Westerner. The injured were sent to nearby hospitals including Raj Yindee Hospital, Krungthep-Hadyai Hospital and Songkhla Nakharin Hospital.


The first bomb to go off was on Thammanoon Withi Road, at the entrance to a pub called Deep Wonder in the basement of the Odean Shopping Mall. The second bomb went off at a junction a few hundred metres down the road, and the third one another few hundred metres on.


The fourth bomb went off in front of the Lee Garden Hotel, destroying tuk-tuks parked there.


The fifth explosion was at the Big C Supercentre and the last was in a restroom of a movie theatre on the fifth floor of Diana Shopping Centre.


The bombs damaged a numbers of cars and motorcycles in the vicinity.


Police said each blast had a radius of 20 metres and that they had found pieces of metal suspected to be part of the bombs.


Officials believe the bomb at the Odean Shopping Mall was planted inside a motorcycle and detonated by mobile phone. Soon after the explosions, all unattended motorcycles nearby were moved away and people were evacuated from the area for fear of more explosions.


Thammanoonwithi Road is one of the most crowded roads in Hat Yai City, with more than 10 hotels along its length. More than 1,000 tourists, both Thais and foreigners, were checked in at the hotels. All were evacuated.


Senior Police Officer Ongkorn Thongprasom said police had received reports that such bomb attacks were likely between September 16 and 20.


"After this bombing, we have to seriously discuss security measures for the area. For sure, the impact on tourism will be large," he said.


Just two weeks ago, intelligence officials predicted stronger, more vigorous attacks by militants in the deep South between September 16 and 20 since this is the week to celebrate the setting up of the Pattani Islamic Mujahideen and Pattani State.


Srisompob Jitpiromsri, an academic who studies trends in the insurgency, said after a spate of bombings in Yala two weeks ago that the insurgents would continue to "show their force" through more coordinated, simultaneous attacks.