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Explosions rip across Thailand, killing at least four

Those attacks killed one person and wounded three.

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Around 9 a.m. on Friday in Phuket, two bombs went off, one at Patong Beach and one at Bang La Street – both popular tourist sites – according to Major General Theerapol Thipcharoen, the chief of Phuket Provincial Police.

Henrik Buuz, 62, of Denmark sipped beer in a Hua Hin hotel lobby Friday.

Germany, which had three nationals wounded in Hua Hin, issued a travel advisory “to avoid public places and gatherings of people”.

A female municipal worker was killed and four were injured in that incident, Chanmornoi said. As the timing suggested it could have been carried out by the opponents. “But one thing is clear: no political aim justifies violence and attacks on innocent people”.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said some Thais “without hearts” were making trouble, adding that the government would do its utmost to secure the kingdom.

“Why has it happened now when the country is improving”.

Edwin Wiek, who has lived in Thailand for nearly 30 years, tweeted a photo of a planter that was blown apart in one of the blasts. He said this could mean that a “group with different opinions” wanted to discredit the government and damage the tourism industry.

Those behind the attacks haven’t yet been identified.

Royal Thai Police official Col. Krisana Patanacharoen said it was too soon say who was behind the attacks, but “we are sure that it is not linked to terrorism”.

Thai police say there’s no evidence the attacks are related to global terrorism. Southern Thailand has been gripped for more than a decade by a low-level Muslim insurgency, but the insurgents rarely operate outside their deep-south strongholds. Hua Hin was targeted again the following day with two more explosions, and authorities defused a fifth device found there.

Bomb attacks in Thailand on Thursday and Friday killed at least four people and injured many more.

Two bombs in Hua Hin were known to be hidden in plant pots 50m apart. There were no injuries in that blast.

TAT says the incidents are under police investigation. One exploded on Phuket city’s popular Patong beach, injuring one person.

Bombs also went off on Phuket’s Loma Beach in southern Thailand and the southern provinces of Trang, Surat Thani and Phang Nga. And two bombs exploded outside a market in Phang Nga, damaging two vehicles but causing no casualties.

Tourists are being warned to “exercise extreme caution” in Thailand after the blasts which also injured dozens others.

“I saw light, white light, big explosion and immediately it hurts here in my shoulder, like big fire. Everyone was screaming, the glass broken, table broken, confusion”, Andrea Tazzioli, an Italian on vacation from military work in Afghanistan, told the AP from a hospital bed.

The explosions began on Thursday night in the resort of Hua Hin.

“I$3 went to have a look and caught a glimpse of the scene but the whole area was in frenzy and people [were] advised to stay inside”, he said.

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Two British nationals were said to be present at one or more of the explosions but were not thought to be injured. Critics say the move helps ensure the military-government’s grip on power for years to come.

At least 4 killed in 11 Thailand bombings