Explosions In Hat Yai

[sriracha john]

Thai channel 7 news showing footage of a series of bomb explosions in downtown Hat Yai that just exploded... a couple dozen of bodies lying on the sidewalks... fires burning...

[geoffphuket]

Thai channel 7 news showing footage of a series of bomb explosions in downtown Hat Yai that just exploded... a couple dozen of bodies lying on the sidewalks... fires burning...

So the extra precautions didn't work

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=82554&hl=

[cclub75]

Thai channel 7 news showing footage of a series of bomb explosions in downtown Hat Yai that just exploded... a couple dozen of bodies lying on the sidewalks... fires burning...

14 september 2006

The Interior Minister, Air Chief Marshal Kongsak Wanthana, said the local residents in the three southern border provinces have given a better cooperation with the officials in arresting the insurgents more speedily. He has also prompted the officials to keep a close eye in the public areas.

[...] As for the cases concerning the bomb plots in Hat Yai Train Station, Hat Yai Airport, and six banks in the deep South, ACM Kongsak said he has received related reports continuously, but the information has to be checked in detailed without any complacency. He said all units have to be alert and prevent unrest events from happening in various places, especially public areas.

The Interior Minister said prompt actions and clarifications by the officials will boost the confidence of the local people.

http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=187524

[Farma]

sky news 3 bombs in 2 department stores in hadyai 2 dead + 10 injured

[sriracha john]

iTV channel news showing footage with comments now... bodies covered in sheets lying on the sidewalk... looks like pretty wide-spread destruction.

5 bombs reported as exploding.

[petedk]

ITV are now saying at least 5 bombs exploded in Hat Yai.

22.20

[geoffphuket]

Wonder how many of the dead and injured are Muslims

[sriracha john]

5 bombings were simultaneous... or nearly simultaneous.

iTV reports 1 "confirmed" fatality, but there's more for sure.

all mobile phones services are being blocked.

[sriracha john]

update: 4 dead, 30 injured .... more to come

bombs exploded at 5 minute intervals... and were placed 500 meters from one another

[terry57]

the question is :

how long will it be before this trouble spreads to other provinces. it amazes me that they have managed to keep it confined to the deep south.

for how long can they keep it there ?

the clock is ticking.

[Farma]

Odeon and Big C with talk of a car bomb from caller reports on Thai TV. 5th floor Diana toilet as well.

[sriracha john]

btw, Hat Yai is NOT one of the 3 Deep South provinces...

Three bombs hit southern Thai town

HAT YAI, Thailand (Reuters) - Three bombs exploded almost simultaneously at two department stores and a hotel in the southern Thai town of Hat Yai on Saturday, wounding several people, police and the army said.

"I’ve had a report there might have been people killed too," Southern Army commander Ongkorn Thongprasom told ITV. The television station said one person had been killed and Channel 7 put the death toll at two.

There was no immediate confirmation from police near a region where more than 1,700 people have been killed since January 2004 in separatist violence in the three far south provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.

A Reuters reporter in the town, where at least one person was killed by a bomb at the airport in April last year, said ambulance sirens wailed as they rushed the wounded to hospital.

A police officer said several people had been confirmed wounded by the bombs in the town, but was unable to give a number.

Last year’s bomb at the airport was one of very few attacks outside the three far south provinces, where most people are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect, since the violence erupted there.

But the town switched off its mobile telephone network, apparently fearing other bombs might have been planted which could be set off by remote control, a method often used by militants in the far south.

[sriracha john]

^^^^^^^^^^

there will be a lag in press reports versus television news on the scene

[cclub75]

how long will it be before this trouble spreads to other provinces. it amazes me that they have managed to keep it confined to the deep south.

I think you have it... in the wrong way.

It should be : the insurgents haven't decided yet to attack further north...

If you follow the events since january 2004.... it's obvious that the thais authorities (military and police as well) do not control anything.

But : it's difficult to blame them.

If you look at history, it's very difficult to break a local insurgency among an homogeneous population with foreign troops.

And in the south, a thai police or a thai soldier is... a foreigner. The locals have nothing in common with Thailand.

The french paratroops managed to do it (the battle of Algiers) in Algeria... It was hard, but they had some successes. Military success. But anyway, on a political level... the forecast is usually bleak : you loose. And the french lost.

Even with the very extreme methods of Staline (wipe out a large chrunk of the population)... it's like a tree... it continues to grow (look at Chechenya. Under Staline, there was no problem because extreme prejudice, but after if you remove the iron fist.... it starts again).

[terry57]

oh so sorry about that S.J. ,

so they are moving up from the deep south then are they ?

so whats next mate ?

phuket maybe, and im being very bloody serious now .

what do you think about it and where are they headed next ?

its obvious that there going to keep heading north.

[sriracha john]

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 Saturday night.

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.

- AFP

[sriracha john]

oh so sorry about that S.J. ,

so they are moving up from the deep south then are they ?

so whats next mate ?

phuket maybe, and im being very bloody serious now .

what do you think about it and where are they headed next ?

its obvious that there going to keep heading north.

Not so sure about that... in the South, they have home turf advantage. Hat Yai has been targeted before, eg. airport and train station, but has been spared the almost daily bombings that has plagued the Deep South provinces.

[terry57]

how long will it be before this trouble spreads to other provinces. it amazes me that they have managed to keep it confined to the deep south.

I think you have it... in the wrong way.

It should be : the insurgents haven't decided yet to attack further north...

If you follow the events since january 2004.... it's obvious that the thais authorities (military and police as well) do not control anything.

But : it's difficult to blame them.

If you look at history, it's very difficult to break a local insurgency among an homogeneous population with foreign troops.

And in the south, a thai police or a thai soldier is... a foreigner. The locals have nothing in common with Thailand.

The french paratroops managed to do it (the battle of Algiers) in Algeria... It was hard, but they had some successes. Military success. But anyway, on a political level... the forecast is usually bleak : you loose. And the french lost.

Even with the very extreme methods of Staline (wipe out a large chrunk of the population)... it's like a tree... it continues to grow (look at Chechenya. Under Staline, there was no problem because extreme prejudice, but after if you remove the iron fist.... it starts again).

yes,

you are very correct and i have quoted it arse up,

ok,

ill have another crack at it,

the thai army cannot control the situation, so what is stopping the muslim extremists from really stepping things up and attacking tourist targets like phuket or samui.

its got to be only a matter of time and then thailand is in deep <deleted>.

the tourists would do a bolt extremely quickly leaving the tourism sector in tatters.

they can do it easily if they want and they are still confining there activities to the deep south except hat yai which is a tad further north.

any ideas why they havn't moved up ?

[sriracha john]

A series of bomb blasts ripped through three department stores Saturday night in Thailand's restive south, killing four and wounding dozens more, a local television station said.

The attacks came just hours after the military staged a peace rally in the south, the site of a Muslim insurgency, where it expressed hope that people would work with authorities to end the violence.

The bombs planted on motorbikes were trigged simultaneously around 8:20 p.m. local time in the Hat Yai business district in Thailand's south, iTV television network reported. At least four were killed and 30 wounded, the private iTV television network reported, it said.

Television footage showed the Odean, Lee Garden and Big C stores in flames and the streets crowded with rescue vehicles and anxious onlookers. Hat Yai is the biggest commercial district in the south and scores of tourist from Malaysia and Singapore often do their shopping there.

Authorities quickly blames separatist insurgents for the attack. Since 2004, they have waged a bloody campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead. Most of those have been civilians.

"We do believe that the insurgents are responsible for the bombs attacked," Lt.Gen. Palangoon Klaharn, the military spokesman, said. "Their intention is to spread fear in the region."

Most of the violence has taken place in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, which are the only ones with a Muslim majority and where citizens there have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the country's Buddhist majority.

- Associated Press

[Nam Kao]

[plachon]

how long will it be before this trouble spreads to other provinces. it amazes me that they have managed to keep it confined to the deep south.

I think you have it... in the wrong way.

It should be : the insurgents haven't decided yet to attack further north...

If you follow the events since january 2004.... it's obvious that the thais authorities (military and police as well) do not control anything.

But : it's difficult to blame them.

If you look at history, it's very difficult to break a local insurgency among an homogeneous population with foreign troops.

And in the south, a thai police or a thai soldier is... a foreigner. The locals have nothing in common with Thailand.

The french paratroops managed to do it (the battle of Algiers) in Algeria... It was hard, but they had some successes. Military success. But anyway, on a political level... the forecast is usually bleak : you loose. And the french lost.

Even with the very extreme methods of Staline (wipe out a large chrunk of the population)... it's like a tree... it continues to grow (look at Chechenya. Under Staline, there was no problem because extreme prejudice, but after if you remove the iron fist.... it starts again).

yes,

you are very correct and i have quoted it arse up,

ok,

ill have another crack at it,

the thai army cannot control the situation, so what is stopping the muslim extremists from really stepping things up and attacking tourist targets like phuket or samui.

its got to be only a matter of time and then thailand is in deep <deleted>.

the tourists would do a bolt extremely quickly leaving the tourism sector in tatters.

they can do it easily if they want and they are still confining there activities to the deep south except hat yai which is a tad further north.

any ideas why they havn't moved up ?

Probably because "they" have a modicum of sense which says that killing people outside of "their" region will not win any friends, home or abroad, and will likely trigger an ugly backlash against all Muslims in Thailand. There is also the school of thought which suggests that this is nothing to do with religious fanatics at all, but all about business, politics and drug turf wars. Heard this latter line from a Bangkok-based karachagan a few days ago.

[loveandlaughter]

Logistics????

The bomb did what it was meant to do and gained attention.

Pretty much like most civil insurgencies they don't go out of their way to target outsiders (ie tourists) as the outcome would be very negative. Look at the Maoists in Nepal or the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.....

How to work out these difficulties. Well military action seldom does the trick on its own, again the Indian Peace Keeping operation in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Isareli action in Gaza, Kashmir the list goes on and on. It's not just building a dialogue but a long process of rebuilding trust in an aggrieved community.

I don't know all the ins and outs of this but it does seem that the heavy army present has only made things worse.

[cclub75]

its obvious that there going to keep heading north.

Not necessarily.

As I said, it's more a matter of strategic choice, rather than a matter of ability.

Who are they ? What do they want ? How many groups ? One, or many with differents goals ?

Anyway, their strategy is to remain silent : no revendication, no demands, not even a "broad message" that could pass through a friendly chanel or friendly country.

Even the thai authorities don't know. First they were in the easy position of denial : "mafia, criminals, drugs traffickers" I mean we heard all the classic bullshit.

This silence is a bit worrying.

Reminds me more and more grounds like Irak : nobody talk anymore overthere. It's just mass murder.

Of course, the intensity of the conflict is still low (by our modern standards). But the fact is that it's increasing, month after month.

Before shootings, then small bombs, then coordinated small bombs... and now it looks little bit bigger.

And don't forget one important point : this is not new. There has been violence and separatist movement in Pattani since the 1930s. And then more violence in 1990's.

So is it separatist idea or muslim violence like we see on a broad scale in the world nowadays ? Or both ?

[cclub75]

Pretty much like most civil insurgencies they don't go out of their way to target outsiders (ie tourists) as the outcome would be very negative. Look at the Maoists in Nepal or the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.....

I don't agree with your comparisons : Maoists in Nepal or Tamul tigers are structured organisations, who have a clear local political agenda (and the violence is a tool to achieve that agenda).

Let me ask you : who was reponsible for the 2 massacres in Bali ? What was the goal of thoses 2 attacks ?

As you can see, it's impossible to put in the same bag what we could call "limited classic terrorism" and... i'm sorry to say "global muslim terrorism".

This is the new paradigm.

[sriracha john]

Sadly, the numbers are climbing...

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

[sriracha john]

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.

- The Nation

[farang prince]

how long will it be before this trouble spreads to other provinces. it amazes me that they have managed to keep it confined to the deep south.

I think you have it... in the wrong way.

It should be : the insurgents haven't decided yet to attack further north...

If you follow the events since january 2004.... it's obvious that the thais authorities (military and police as well) do not control anything.

But : it's difficult to blame them.

If you look at history, it's very difficult to break a local insurgency among an homogeneous population with foreign troops.

And in the south, a thai police or a thai soldier is... a foreigner. The locals have nothing in common with Thailand.

The french paratroops managed to do it (the battle of Algiers) in Algeria... It was hard, but they had some successes. Military success. But anyway, on a political level... the forecast is usually bleak : you loose. And the french lost.

Even with the very extreme methods of Staline (wipe out a large chrunk of the population)... it's like a tree... it continues to grow (look at Chechenya. Under Staline, there was no problem because extreme prejudice, but after if you remove the iron fist.... it starts again).

yes,

you are very correct and i have quoted it arse up,

ok,

ill have another crack at it,

the thai army cannot control the situation, so what is stopping the muslim extremists from really stepping things up and attacking tourist targets like phuket or samui.

its got to be only a matter of time and then thailand is in deep <deleted>.

the tourists would do a bolt extremely quickly leaving the tourism sector in tatters.

they can do it easily if they want and they are still confining there activities to the deep south except hat yai which is a tad further north.

any ideas why they havn't moved up ?

They haven't moved up because they wouldn't have safe haven in Phuket or Samui. Insurgents need the support of the local population to be effective. In the deep south, they have that support. The further north they go, the more that support erodes. Of course, since they are talking about creating a Muslim "city within a city" in Bangkok, that might create the cooperative environment that they need to begin conducting operations in and around Bangkok. When I initially heard about this idea, I thought to myself "Oh oh." I hope I'm wrong.

[sriracha john]

Five bombs went off in central Hat Yai town of Songkhla at about 9.15 pm Saturday, killing at least two persons and wounding 79.

Most of the victims were Thai and Malaysian night shoppers. Police said the blasts went off at busy shopping spots near Odean shopping centre, Lee Gardens Hotel, Big C Supercenter and a restaurant in the business district.

Of the two killed, one is a Canadian, who could only be indentified as Mr Daniel and the other is a Thai woman, whose name could not yet be identified.

The Fourth Army refused to say who were responsible for the attacks, or whether it was linked to the muslim militants. It said its bomb disposal units were assisting the local police in clearing the scenes and would only offer comments when more evidence was gathered.

Earlier, Thai Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin had ordered military personnel in the deep South to be on high alert from Saturday through Wednesday, after reports of possible attacks by the Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani (GMIP), an offshoot of the southern militant group Gerakan Mujahidin Pattani (GMP), to mark its anniversary.

[dog412]

this is the biggest threat to thailand. take care of your security first. most "secular" governments will agree this is something we all have in common. do what you will, but realize, all will become public at some point.

[IMA_FARANG]

oh so sorry about that S.J. ,

so they are moving up from the deep south then are they ?

so whats next mate ?

phuket maybe, and im being very bloody serious now .

what do you think about it and where are they headed next ?

its obvious that there going to keep heading north.

I think you have it... in the wrong way.

It should be : the insurgents haven't decided yet to attack further north...

There is a very good series about the seperatists on BBC World Service by their reporter in Bangkok.

She interviewed some of the leaders of the Pattani seperatists (Often based in Malaysia, though she never clearly said that.)

They seem to be relatively reasonable people with the one exception that they believe deeply in a seperate Pattani Muslim area, not under Thai rule.

So far they DO NOT WISH to bring the violence up north to either Bangkok, Phuket, or Pattaya.

They specifically said however, that exporting the violence into tourist areas was one of their options if the BOMBINGS IN THE SOUTH DID NOT GET THE INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION they wanted.

The other thing of which you should be aware is the tie with some of the Islamist militant groups. (Such as those behind the bombings in Bali of tourist areas.)

At this point the leaders of the Pattani seperatists are attempting to avoid any contact with these more militant Islamic terror groups. However, a young and hard-line segment of the Pattani seperatists are calling for ties with the Islamist terror groups. How long the more moderate leaders will be able to hold off the pressure from the radicals depends on what happens.

If the Thai government were really smart, they would start talks with the more moderate leaders NOW on some regional autonomy or power sharing solution.

But frankly, the chance of that in the current political situation in Thailand is virtually nil.

The conclusion therefore is that the situation will get worse before it gets better.