Voters in three mostly Muslim southern provinces, where separatists have been fighting with the military for than a decade in an insurgency that has cost 6,500 lives, also voted against the new constitution, while the rest of the country accepted it.
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Pubs and bars in the popular seaside tourist town Hua Hin, south of Bangkok, were packed on Thursday night as tourists and locals celebrated ahead of the Queen Sirikit birthday celebrations. The blast followed a series of two explosions in Hua Hin Thursday even.
“There have been no arrests yet”, deputy national police spokesman Piyapan Pingmuang told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Saturday morning, adding that police have yet to identify any suspects or a motive.
The bombings were part of a series of attacks on world-renowned seaside resorts in southern Thailand that may jeopardise the Southeast Asian nation’s target of luring a record 32 million visitors in 2016.
The explosions injured more than 30 others in the city of Hua Hin on Thursday, 11 August, with a following wave of explosions in South Bangkok and on the islands of Phuket, Surat Thani and Trang.
Ethnic Malay militants fighting for greater autonomy in Thailand’s far south have launched attacks there almost every day for a more than a decade. The 11 explosions killed four people and injured dozens, including 11 foreign tourists.
While numerous bombings were in tourist areas, he said, they did not seem meant to kill large numbers of people, suggesting that the intent was to hurt the tourist-dependent economy.
Royal Thai Police Col. Krisana Patanacharoen also said Friday that it was “too early to conclude” who was behind the attacks.
“People, through social media, are sending messages saying Thaksin Shinawatra is behind these events”, Noppadon Pattama, a former foreign minister, said according to Reuters.
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said perpetrators will be brought to justice and his government will investigate and bring them to legal prosecution with the best ability.
“There was blood, people shouting, others injured, one person dead, others shouting, others running away, others crying, others fainting, others who didn’t know what to do”, he said. Tourist arrivals dropped by more than half a million in the month after the blast, but Thailand still hosted a record 29.88 million visitors in 2015.
The first two explosions occurred overnight on Thursday on a busy street in the tourist city of Hua Hin, which was hit again by another blast yesterday morning. The ruling junta has declared that defending the monarchy is its priority, especially as there is concern about the process to succeed the ailing 88-year-old king, who is the world’s longest reigning monarch.
“We hope to have good news [about suspects and motives] over the next one or two days”, he said. One Thai woman was killed and about 20 people were wounded, half of them foreigners, according to Pol. Lt Chaiyot Tisawong. One exploded on popular Loma Beach in Phuket city’s Patong district, injuring one person. “At first we had a lot of mixed feelings, because we didn’t know the area well enough”, said Lexus Chlorad, 21, from NY, after arriving in Hua Hin on Friday afternoon. He said a Samsung cellphone had been recovered that they believe was used to detonate at least one of the bombs.
The German units of tour operators TUI and Thomas Cook said customers booked on trips to Thailand departing before August 15 could cancel or rebook to other destinations free of charge. His ouster set off sometimes bloody battles for power between his supporters and opponents, who include the military.
The bombings came less than a week after the military regime’s draft of a new charter was approved in a referendum.
The 2006 removal of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra spurred widespread protests over the next several years and resulted in mass demonstrations in 2010 and 2011.
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Critics say the referendum was a sham because the military restricted open discussion and jailed more than 100 people who criticised it.
