Suspects In Hat Yai Bomb Blasts Captured On Camera

[webfact]

Suspects in Hat Yai bomb blasts captured on camera

Photo: Charoon Thongnuan

The Nation

SONGKHLA: -- Police on Monday released security camera footage of two men they believed to be suspects in the explosion at the Lee Gardens Hotels, Hat Yai, Songkhla.

The two men were walking from the parking lot's B4 floor near the centre of the blasts at about 10.13am.

The men, about 170cm tall, were wearing black jackets, jeans and caps to hide their faces.

-- The Nation 2012-04-02

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Deputy PM: Blasts Not to Blame on Poor Intelligence

BANGKOK: -- The deputy prime minister in charge of security affairs denies intelligence units failed to warn about the latest blasts in the deep South.

Meanwhile, the PM has ordered security agencies to coordinate efforts in hunting down the suspects.

Speaking before the Cabinet meeting today, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung voiced his concern about the potential impact that the recent bomb blasts in Songkhla and Yala provinces might have on tourism.

He said he will follow the situation closely although he has no direct oversight over the matter.

Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa was assigned by the prime minister to oversee the bomb blast cases.

Chalerm noted the images of bombing suspects were captured by security cameras at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel and the police are identifying them and seeking arrest warrants.

He denied that the blasts are to be blamed on poor intelligence, saying that it is always a difficult task to foresee and prevent any attacks and the best the authorities can do is to set up more checkpoints.

Chalerm believes the attacks will not affect other areas and that no such incidents should happen again during the Songkran festivities.

He also gave his assurance that Bangkok will be safe from disruptive incidents.

-- Tan Network 2012-04-02

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DEADLY ATTACKS IN SONGKHLA AND YALA

Suspects identified : Security officials

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Security agencies believe insurgents behind the vehicle bomb attacks in Yala over the weekend belong to a group close to an insurgent leader behind the Hat Yai airport bomb attack in 2005.

The security agencies have also learned the identity of an insurgent behind the bomb attack at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai, a security source said Monday.

The bomb attacks in the two provinces on Saturday claimed 14 lives and injured scores of other victims.

The source said security agencies believe the groups that launched the attacks in Yala and Hat Yai coordinated their attacks.

The source said the three bomb attacks in Yala were carried out by a group led by Sahudin Tohjehmae with help by Saifulloh Sahfru, a terrorist suspect who is a friend of Faisol Hayisama-ae. Faisol is wanted for the Hat Yai bomb attack in 2005.

The source said a suspect in Yala's Thanto district, Abdulloh Pula, also sent some team members to assist in the three bomb attacks.

At almost the same time, another bomb attack was carried out in Pattani but no one was killed.

The source said security agencies believed insurgent leaders planned the coordinated attacks during a meeting in Yala's Muang district a week earlier.

The source said the attack at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel was allegedly carried out by Masore Duramae, who is believed to have driven a bomb-laden car and parked it in the underground car park of the hotel.

-- The Nation 2012-04-02

[Skywalker69]

He has a "blasting" future, hope he rots in hell.

[webfact]

Army Chief Admits Security Flaws in Weekend Blasts

BANGKOK: -- The army chief says security in the urban area of the southern border region must be heightened after coordinated bomb attacks in Yala and Songkhla's Hat Yai District.

Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said April is a sensitive period for insurgent incidents to take place in the southern border region and the attacks in Songkhla and Yala provinces over the weekend stemmed from the authorities' lenient security measures.

Prayuth suggested around-the-clock surveillance must be implemented and security measures for urban areas must be readjusted.

The general said he has already suggested to the prime minister and the Opposition leader that the resolution for southern unrest needs cooperation from all parties.

He said the unrest in the region is not only the work of separatist groups, but also other criminal organizations.

Prayuth said the coordinated bomb attacks aimed to stir panic among the people while suggesting work of related agencies be improved and more surveillance cameras be installed in the region.

The general today flew to Yala and Songkhla's Hat Yai District to inspect the situation following the coordinated attacks which killed 13 people and injured hundreds.

-- Tan Network 2012-04-02

[Unkomoncents]

YAY!!! Now: let's try to "capture" the criminals IN PERSON and not merely on a videotape (this should be interesting).

[MrJohnson]

Wait a minute...is that the sound of a sledge hammer being drawn from a cupboard or an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. I'm sure it will be one or the other. Constructive engagement sure ain't gonna work, nor is a 'special' zone. What next?

[MEL1]

"Chalerm believes the attacks will not affect other areas and that no such incidents should happen again during the Songkran festivities."

Thanks for your insightful brilliance, yet again, arm lech.

-mel.

[Skywalker69]

"Chalerm believes the attacks will not affect other areas and that no such incidents should happen again during the Songkran festivities."

Thanks for your insightful brilliance, yet again, arm lech.

-mel.

Did he really? He must be drunk then and on a monday, shame.

[heiwa]

OK arrest these guys but to be fair arrest Mr. Taksin at the same time. Mrs Yingluck prepare that international arrest warrant now.

What would Shakespeare have to say:

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - ( Quote Act III, scene I).

In October 2004 the town of Tak Bai in Narathiwat province saw the most publicized incident of the insurgency. Six local men were arrested for having supplied weapons to insurgents. A demonstration was organized to demand their release and the police called in army reinforcements. The army used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd, and shooting started in which seven men were killed.

Hundreds of local people, mostly young men, were arrested. They were made to take off their shirts and lie on the ground. Their hands were tied behind their backs (Sounds very similar to the way many foreign tourists die in Thailand). Later that afternoon, they were thrown by soldiers into trucks to be taken to the Ingkayutthaboriharn army camp in the nearby province of Pattani. The prisoners were stacked five or six deep in the trucks, and by the time the trucks reached their destination five hours later, in the heat of the day, 78 men had suffocated to death.

This incident sparked widespread protests across the south, and indeed across Thailand, since many non-Muslim Thais were appalled at the army's behaviour. Thaksin, however, gave the army his full support. Those responsible for the ill-treatment and death of the detainees received the most minor of non-custodial punishments. Thaksin's initial response was to defend the army's actions, saying that the 78 men died "because they were already weak from fasting during the month of Ramadan."

Charges were filed against 58 suspects accused of participating in the demonstration. The trials went on at a slow place, and As of October 2006, the court had finished questioning of only two out of the 1,500 witnesses in the case. Police were also unable to find 32 Tak Bai protesters who were still at large after fleeing arrest.^[40]

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont gave a formal apology for the incident on 2 November 2006.^[41] The day afterwards, the number of violent acts increased fivefold, compared to the average in the preceding month.^[42]

Edited April 2, 2012 by heiwa

[heiwa]

YAY!!! Now: let's try to "capture" the criminals IN PERSON and not merely on a videotape (this should be interesting).

Yes, it would be delicious to know why they did it? Would be fascinating if they had any relatives killed in former massacres. Could it be because of the Taksin Takbai massacre and many similar events? Why not have some real reconciliation and stop this forever. The vicious circle does not have to continue if we have like minded intelligent people on both sides to reach a peaceful solution. It does not have to escalate to a Bali style bombing if there is meaningful reconciliation. Bringing Taksin to justice for the massacre of innocent ethnic Malays would go a long way to reconciliation and stop the vicious circle of revenge. Edited April 2, 2012 by heiwa

[lovelaos]

Chalerm believes the attacks will not affect other areas and that no such incidents should happen again during the Songkran festivities.

He also gave his assurance that Bangkok will be safe from disruptive incidents.

So you can all sleep safely and enjoy Songkran in Bangkok

[luckyman]

"Chalerm believes the attacks will not affect other areas and that no such incidents should happen again during the Songkran festivities.

He also gave his assurance that Bangkok will be safe from disruptive incidents."

Looking at the nature of the recent type of attacks of the quickly evolving terrorists in the South, I think that Chalerm's comments were a bit dangerous, sounded almost like he's challenging them...very scary!

[webfact]

Suspected bombers identified in South

The Nation

Two suspected bombers walk in an underground parking lot of the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai before a car bomb exploded there on Saturday in this video grab released by police yesterday. Both men, about 170cm tall, are seen in the surveillance footagage.

Sahudin Tohjehmae 'orchestrated Yala, Hat Yai explosions with 3 others'

HAT YAI: -- Many suspects have been identified in relation to car-bomb attacks at three locations in the deep South on Saturday, while another man was arrested yesterday for his alleged role in blasts in Pattani.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb wounded a kamnan and three other officials as they were travelling in his pick-up truck in Pattani's Yarang district yesterday.

A note was left by insurgents at a nearby security box, saying: "You play games with tokens, but I will play with [your] lives."

Ismael Buenae, chief of tambon Kor Lam, sustained only minor injuries, as did three civil defence volunteers sitting in the bed of the truck, despite the vehicle being blown 30 metres from the bombsite. Police said the bomb consisted of 15kg of explosives buried in the middle of the road, with a wire detonator.

Security sources alleged yesterday that Sahudin Tohjehmae carried out three bomb attacks in Yala, with the help of Saifulloh Sahfru, a terrorist suspect who is a friend of Faisol Hayisama-ae. Faisol is wanted for the Hat Yai airport bomb attack in 2005.

Sahudin was also supported by Abdulloh Pula, and Masoreh Tueramae. "They possibly met to plan the attacks [over the weekend] at Byte village, in tambon Budee, and Muang district one week before that," the source said.

Masoreh may have assembled the car bomb used in the attack at the Lee Gardens Hotel in Hat Yai, and possibly drove the vehicle and parked it at an underground carpark himself, the sources said.

In Pattani, security officials raided a home in tambon Muang Tia in Mae Lan district and arrested Samlee Puluduereh, 34, following tip-offs. A pair of iron-cutting pliers and 100 metres of electric wire were found in his home.

The officials said later he resembled one of three members of a team of insurgents caught on security cameras parking two vehicles at the Hat Yai hotel before fleeing.

In Bangkok, a defence intelligence unit affiliated with the Bangkok Metropolitan Adminis-tration will call a meeting on April 5 to discuss security in the capital and measures to heighten it during the funeral of Her Royal Highness Princess Bejaratana and the Songkran celebrations in the capital.

The meeting, held on behalf of an Internal Security Operations Command detachment to the

BMA, is the second this year and was called in the wake of the bomb attacks in the deep South, BMA spokesman Wasan Meewong said.

In Phnom Penh yesterday, Asean foreign ministers expressed sympathy with Thailand over the blasts and condemned the attacks, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchai-kul said after a meeting prior to today's Asean Summit. He did not name specific countries.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the meeting aimed to pursue frameworks to help achieve an Asean Community in 2015 in regard to three aspects: politics and security, economy and society, and culture. He said Surapong expressed condolences to Malaysian Foreign Ministry officials over the death of a Malaysian tourist in the Hat Yai bomb.

At a Senate session yesterday, the government, authorities and intelligence chiefs were criticised for lax security and performance, which was blamed as a cause of the attacks.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn warned against possible bomb blasts at Hat Yai airport, or even Bangkok, as insurgents may exploit loopholes, as they succeeded in doing to get to a target in downtown Hat Yai.

Senator Charoen Phakdeewanich called on the government to convene a joint session of Parliament to talk about the problem and report to the public what it would do to prevent possible insurgent attacks in the future. He called for an overhaul of all intelligence services.

Another senator, Prasert Prakhun-suksaphan, said tall buildings and those with underground floors had been targeted for attack. The Hat Yai hotel drama would be a lesson intelligence and security officials should learn from, he said.

-- The Nation 2012-04-03

[sabye]

I really wonder why this is the only picture. When you enter Lee Gardens underground parkade you must stop to get a parking voucher from the security guard. There is a camera directed right at the face of the driver. All shopping malls in Hat Yai have the same system. They should have a clear picture of the drivers face while he rewaches out of the window to get his voucher. I wonder where that picture is?

[TeddyFlyfisherDavis]

In Pattani, security officials raided a home in tambon Muang Tia in Mae Lan district and arrested Samlee Puluduereh, 34, following tip-offs. A pair of iron-cutting pliers and 100 metres of electric wire were found in his home. OMG...These are surely bomb making materials...I am going to vomit now...Excuse me...

[anterian]

These pictures are terrible, about as sharp and detailed as an early webcam of ten years ago. Currently even cheap cameras are in the 10 megapixel range, surely they need to upgrade equipment from time to time?

[belg]

what is the use of low quality camera's if you cannot even identify someone with it ?

[Schnitzel]

what is the use of low quality camera's if you cannot even identify someone with it ?

Gives people the feeling of security, same way like you lock the door at your house when you're leaving.

Nobody ever gonna open that doorlock but you

[webfact]

Police publicise CCTV views of two suspects in Hat Yai hotel car bombing

SONGKHLA, April 3 -- Songkhla police have broadcast closed circuit television coverage showing two suspects in the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel car bombing.

The two suspects appeared in CCTV footage recorded by cameras in the hotel’s basement car park. The two men wore jeans and black jackets with caps to hide their faces.

They walked from the B4 parking zone, not far from where the bomb exploded, and walked out of the hotel car park entrance at 10.13am before the bomb exploded at around noon.

In related developments, Songkhla Deputy Governor Surapol Panasampol represented the province in compensating Low Tiaing Beng, elder brother of Low Thian Hok, a Malaysian who died in the hotel bombing and fire.

Meanwhile, another male victim was identified as Tan Peng Chan, 39, a Malaysian national. His Malaysian friends identified him from his tattoo and earring. He had been visiting Songkhla with three friends who were also injured in the incident.

The authorities were to conduct DNA tests, results which will be announced on Wednesday. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-04-03