Thailand Deep South: Business districts get security boost | Bangkok Post

Thailand Deep South: Business districts get security boost | Bangkok Post
Wassana Nanuam, Bangkok Post, August 2, 2012

The army has stepped up security to the maximum level in seven business districts in the far South following the bomb attack at a luxury hotel in Pattani on Tuesday.

Army deputy spokesman Col Sirijan Ngathong said commanders met yesterday to discuss reports that insurgent attacks would become more savage in the far South and senior government officials would be the targets.

Officials are advised to boost security measures especially when they attend public events.
Soldiers must also take precautions for their own safety.

Col Sirijan said army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha was not considering imposing a curfew in the deep South, which would only inconvenience locals.

He quoted Gen Prayuth as telling yesterday's meeting that solutions to the southern violence would take time and the military would solve the problem through legal means rather than force.

According to sources in the far South, security authorities do not know the actual scope of insurgency in the region. But they estimate there are 8,000-10,000 militants.

More car bombs are expected because many cars and pickup trucks have been stolen in the region.

A series of recent bombings and ambushes have prompted security authorities to boost safety measures.

Col Pramote Prom-in, deputy spokesman for the southern outpost of the Internal Security Operations Command, said officials were imposing maximum security in seven business districts in the far South, namely Muang and Betong districts in Yala province; Muang district in Pattani; Muang, Tak Bai and Sungai Kolok districts in Narathiwat; and Hat Yai district in Songkhla.

More security officials have been deployed. They are operating more checkpoints, installing more security equipment including surveillance cameras, and adjusting safety zones.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said strategies for the far South would not change but officials would have to cooperate more closely, and operations and intelligence had to be swift.

Fourth Army commander Lt Gen Udomchai Thammasarorat said more security officers had been deployed to prevent attacks and conduct searches on vehicles in the far South.
Security officials are also looking for stolen vehicles that might be used as car bombs, he said.

Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat plans to have the air force deploy armed aircraft to protect patrols and escort army soldiers on roads.

Soldiers in the deep South had been taking on work which was not their responsibility.
He said soldiers have been busy suppressing the smuggling of goods and drugs, and police should step in to help relieve the troops' workload.

ACM Sukumpol said security authorities had not discussed the possibility of a curfew in the far South.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said neither politicians nor policymakers had given clear instructions to officials in the southern border provinces.

Meanwhile, police inspected the site behind CS Pattani Hotel yesterday where the blast went off on Tuesday night.

Police found the remains of the pickup truck that was carrying the bomb, along with those of a 15kg gas cylinder that is believed to have contained the 50-60kg explosive device. They also found parts of a communications radio and steel bars which had been cut up to serve as shrapnel.

The rear of the hotel sustained large cracks. Its transformer and generator were damaged, as were nearby homes.

The hotel was storing about 500 litres of oil for the generators.

The explosion ignited the fuel, setting the hotel ablaze.

The bombing slightly injured five residents and three hotel staff suffered chest pain.

The blue Isuzu pickup that carried the improvised bomb had been stolen in tambon Plong Hoi of Kapo district in Pattani on June 25. It belonged to the Betagro Group.

Armed attackers stole the truck after killing three Betagro employees who were transporting chickens, according to police.

More Hat Yai, Thailand, bombings feared - Bangkok Post

More Hat Yai, Thailand, bombings feared - Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post, April 2, 2012

Security authorities in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district have placed the city on high alert as they search frantically for four vehicles suspected of being rigged for fresh attacks after a car bomb that caused a fire in the city centre a day earlier and left five people killed and hundreds injured.

Meanwhile, Police say they have identified the gang they believe planted the bombs in Yala and Hat Yai on Saturday which killed 14 people in total.

Hat Yai Police Station’s radio centre on Sunday notified all security units to launch a thorough search of the city for the four vehicles including two Isuzu pickup trucks – one coloured blue and the other bronze metallic - a white Toyota Hilux Tiger pickup and a black Honda Civic sedan, media reports said. All have been stolen.

It's believed the vehicles were used as getaway cars after the bombings and police sources said it was likely they would be rigged to stage more attacks in downtown Hat Yai following Saturday’s car bombing at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel and shopping mall.

Police have identified the owner of the car used in the attack at the five-star hotel as Thanasorn Kuasook, ex-deputy chief of Choeng Khiri tambon administration organisation in Narathiwat's Sri Sakhon district. He was killed by suspected militants in his hometown in October last year and his car was stolen, according to authorities.

Explosives ordnance disposal and forensic police have collected partial evidence from Thanasorn’s car which was parked in the underground parking floor, level B2, of the 33-storey Lee Gardens. Officials’ can proceed only investigate three of the five underground floors because the air in the area is still filled with gas and has little light.

More than 200 owners of cars damaged in the attack have submitted their registration papers to the authorities, reports said.

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.