Thailand’s government on Thursday (Aug 18) said 15 suspects in last week’s bomb and arson attacks against a string of tourist resort towns are being detained at a military barracks in Bangkok.
Advertisement
Police have said some of those bombs used ball bearings to injure and kill.
Police General Pongsapat Pongcharoen said that authorities were putting together the jigsaw to identify the network behind the attacks that hit Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, plus six southern provinces, including Phuket. Ten of the injured were foreign tourists from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, while all of the dead were Thai citizens.
Some of the bombs were reportedly concealed in flower beds and roadside plants.
Two incendiary devices in mobile telephone power packs were found in a market in the upscale resort of Hua Hin on Sunday, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Tourism Authority of Thailand estimates the bomb attacks in the seven southern provinces, 12 August, will cost the country THB5,080 to THB10,160 million in revenue.
Meanwhile, overseas offices have been instructed to monitor news reports by the worldwide media, travel agency cancellations and any changes in airline services.
The military toppled Thaksin in 2006 sparking years of debilitating protests culminating in a second coup against an elected administration run by his sister Yingluck in 2014.
Vichai Assarasakorn, vice chairman of the Board of Trade of Thailand and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said after soliciting opinions from provincial chambers of commerce nationwide that most were still confident in the Thai economy and not anxious by the events. Several explosions were reported during the weekend of the referendum, one of which killed a teacher and injured two police officers.
Prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has refused to speculate who may be responsible, saying the investigation is still under way.
Gen. Prayuth had suggested Friday that the attacks were a reaction to the referendum.
“The fact that Hua Hin was targeted is proof that the attackers have no respect for the royal family”, said Kenji Aoshima, a risk consultant to Japanese businesses who works for a Thai arm of the Tokio Marine group.
But they have spiked considerably so far this month, with 88 incidents of violence just in the first 10 days of August in the three southern provinces and neighbouring Songkhla province, according to Deep South Watch (DSW), a Pattani-based group which monitors the conflict.
“This is slander and defamation”.
Police have also arrested Sakarin Karuehas, a 32-year-old oil rig worker originally from Chiang Mai. Deputy police spokesman Col.
It could also indicate that security operations in the south had “seriously failed”, despite the military taking complete control after seizing power in a 2014 coup, she added.
Thailand is politically divided into two distinct groups: the alleged “Red Shirts”, who are poor and living in rural areas, and the “Yellow Shirts”, who are considered the urban elite and connected to the monarchy.
Advertisement
The violence occurred just ahead of the anniversary of the August 17, 2015, bombing of Bangkok’s popular Erawan Shrine, which left 20 dead and injured more than 120.
