They came hours after twin bombs killed one person in the seaside resort town of Hua Hin, near the capital Bangkok.
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Hua Hin is home to the Klai Kangwon (Far From Worries) summer palace of Thailand’s revered royal family, and the firsts blasts came on the eve of Queen Sirikit’s 84th birthday and just ahead of the first anniversary of a Bangkok shrine bombing that killed 20.
“The culprits are most likely Malay-Muslim insurgent groups fighting the Thai state in the deep south”, he said.
About 20 minutes later, the second bomb exploded at a bar about 50 metres away, killing a Thai food vendor.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said it does not have any information to suggest there were New Zealanders involved. Police believe that explosion was related to a local dispute.
Thailand’s military junta, which seized power in 2014 after a decade of at times violent political unrest, has touted an increase in stability in the kingdom as a major accomplishment of its rule.
It is also home to a palace for years favoured by Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch.
King Bhumibol has received treatment for an infection over the past month in a Bangkok hospital, the Royal Household Bureau said on August 1.
8am: Two bombs went off in front of a park and a police box near Phuket’s Patong beach, causing at least one injury.
Back in Hua Hin at 9:05 a.m, another two bombs went off near a clock tower, a city landmark, according to Yoosumran. One person was killed, and a number were injured.
A series of explosions has killed at least three people and injured dozens more – including several tourists – in southern Thailand. The city is home to many global hotel chains, including the Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt. Expat Edwin Wiek, who was in Hua Hin during the blasts, found pieces of a destroyed phone near the bomb site.
Two more blasts were reported in the popular tourist destination of Phuket.
At least six explosions hit two Thai cities in a span of about 12 hours, police officials told CNN. No Indian has been reported injured in Hua Hin.
Nevertheless, he added, he is very concerned about the impact of the bombings on tourism at Thailand’s beach resorts.
Hua Hin is far from the conflict zone, where attacks typically target security forces and not tourists.
Thailand economy relies on tourism.
Police believe the series of blasts were acts of local sabotage and not linked to any global militant group, deputy police spokesman Police Colonel Krisana Pattanacharoen told reporters on Friday.
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“The bombs are an attempt to create chaos and confusion”, he told reporters. “You have to find out”, he said. Sansern said it was still too early to identify the suspects or the masterminds, but he assured that the officers will bring those who were responsible for these deadly blasts to justice. Col. Kritsana Phatthanacharoen urged tourists to stay alert and report anything suspicious via the 191 emergency hotline.
