Thai PM visits bomb victims in Hat Yai - Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post, April 2, 2012

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra made her first trip to Hat Yai on Monday, begining with a visit to the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel, where a car bomb exploded on Saturday night, and then went to speak with a few of the surviviors.

Ms Yingluck was greeted on her arrival by Songkhla governor Krisda Boonraj, and Pol Lt-Gen Chakthip Chaichinda, the Region 9 Police commander, who led her to see the scene of Saturday's car bomb at the hotel.

There was high securityat all levels for her visit. Mobile telephone signals were blocked in the area during her visit.

She instructed officials to quickly provide assistance to families of those who were killed and wounded in the attack.

The prime minister then went to Hat Yai Hospital and visited 12 bomb victims being treated there. She expressed regret for what happened and wished them a quick recovery.

At the hospital, Ms Yingluck visited Kannaphat, a two-month old baby boy, who was also wounded along with his father, Paisit, at the hotel's carpark.

The prime minister said she will give the boy, who is now out of danger, a scholarship from her own pocket for his education until he finishes a bachelor's degree education.

National police chief Priewpan Damapong said he believed the car bombings in Yala and Songkhla's Hat Yai district on Saturday were a coordinated attack.

He was convinced of this after thoroughly inspecting the scenes of the bombings  - the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai and in municipal Yala.

Judging from the way the bombs were assembled, the timing of the blasts and other circumstances, it was clear the series of explosions were linked.

Pol Gen Priewpan said investigators at the Police Operational Centre for the Southern Border Provinces knew which groups of insurgents were responsible for the attacks, but he did not give details.

Sources in the police explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit that scoured the basement carpark floors of the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel said the bomb was concealed in a black Honda Civic car registered to Thanasorn Kuasuk, secretary of the Choeng Khiri tambon administration organisation in Si Sa Khon district of Narathiwat province.

Mr Thanasorn was attacked and robbed of his car and an M16 rifle on Oct 23 last year.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung has defended the intelligence agencies against criticism they are inept following their failure to prevent the deadly bombings in Yala and Songkhla.

Mr Chalerm said the intelligence units were not incompetent.

The attackers planned ahead and it was difficult to prevent them from implmenting their plans. Even so, the intelligence units will be working in a more integrated manner from now on, he said.

Police had the pictures of the attackers from surveillance cameras and warrants for their arrest would be issued soon, he said.

The former police captain said he could not tell whether southern unrest will escalate further, to the level of violence during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.

"There will be no insurgent attacks in Bangkok, and there's nothing to worry about," Mr Chalerm said.

Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa said intelligence reports warn that more bombings can be expected in the deep South and authorities might consider imposing the emergency decree in new areas in areas where the violence has worsened.

"The army has beefed up security in Songkhla's Hat Yai district and other areas because we have received reports that there might be more attacks," Gen Yutthasak said,.

Authorities had earlier warned people about possible attacks following a series of bomb blasts last weekend.

He said police and soldiers on Saturday conducted a counter-insurgency exercise at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai, but security measures had not been tightened.

"There has been more violence at the end of March and the beginning of April because the Krue Se and Tak Bai incidents happened around this time of year," the deputy prime minister said.

The Internal Security Operations Command, Region 4, had last week carried out an aggressive military offence, drawing strong resistance from the insurgents.

The proposal to extend the executive decree on public administration in emergency situations will be considered over the next two months because it could affect the people's state of mind, he said.

"There is still a problem of unity of command in the area, and it needs to be addressed.
"From now on, the army has to help push and support the political sector and must have more strategies," the retired general said.

In Yala, the bombs exploded at two spots. The first was at the intersection of Chong Rak and Ruam Mit roads, where the militants planted a 15kg bomb concealed in a gas cylinder in a blue Isuzu pickup truck.  The other site was in front of a convenience store where a similar bomb was planted in a Toyota Tiger pickup truck.

The bombs were detonated remotely by mobile phone.

The other explosion was from an LPG-powered van parked near the intersection.
Three people were killed in the explosion and blaze in the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel's basement carpark. They were identified as Mrs Yupin Puthima, 38, Low Tsian Hock, a Malaysian man, and an unidentified Thai man.

More than 300 people were wounded, but only 133 were still being treated at different hospitals, a source said.

Ten people, five men and five women, were killed in the Yala bomb blasts and 112 wounded.  Of the injured, 32 were still in hospital this morning.