Thailand rocked by eleven bombs in one day in which at least 4 were killed and dozens injured
BANGKOK (Thailand) – A series of coordinated blasts across Thailand killed four and injured more than 30, including foreign tourists on Friday.
Two bombs went off in the resort of Hua Hin Friday morning near the clock tower, a city landmark and two small bombs exploded in the tourist beach town of Patong on Phuket Island, and two more in Phang Nga, another tourist region in the south, one Thai man was lightly wounded in Patong, police officials said.
The Thursday night blasts in Hua Hin have spaced roughly 45 minutes apart. The injured included three Italians, three Dutch nationals, three Germans and one Austrian, according to a police report. The rest were mostly Thai street vendors in the area.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts — and it’s not clear if the bombings are connected. Thai authorities were quick to blame “local sabotage” and rule out Islamist terrorism.
Police also said they have not found any evidence that the blasts were coordinated or whether they were related to an insurgency in Muslim-majority provinces in southern Thailand.
The Thai prime minister and leader of the military junta, Prayut Chan-o-cha, has ordered security to be increased across urban areas and areas popular with tourists but also called for calm.
The aftermath of the first bombing on Thursday night was witnessed by tourist Shane Brett who told that there was panic. ‘I was at a bar in the main bar district in Hua Hin right outside the Hilton Hotel and at first, I heard kind of a bang … and everyone kind of panicked,’ Brett said.
Edwin Wiek, who has lived in Thailand for almost 30 years, tweet a photo of a planter that was blown apart in one of the blasts.
Bombs in #Huahin were in plant pots, not in motorbikes. pic.twitter.com/cJcfSLDoVw
— Edwin Wiek (@EdwinWiek) August 11, 2016
Explosion at Patong beach & bomb found at Loma, Phuket this morning (Via @Thairath_News) pic.twitter.com/Q98pf2KOde
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) August 12, 2016
The latest bombings came almost a year after an attack on a Hindu shrine thronged with tourists in central Bangkok killed 20 people and wounded more than 120. Police have accused two ethnic Uighur Muslims from China for Aug. 17, 2015, attack.
A homemade bomb has previously been used by attackers in Thailand at times of political unrest, but since the military took power in a coup in May 2014 such attacks have been extremely rare.
