But local TV stations reported that two men were being questioned for suspected involvement in the explosions.
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Thai police said the bombings were acts of local sabotage and were not linked to any global terrorist group. Gen. Piyapan Pingmuang said at a news conference Friday.
The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok says that if it turns out insurgents are behind these attacks it would mark a significant change of tactics after a 12-year conflict which has killed more than 6,000 people, but has never targeted tourists.
One was killed and six others were injured in the explosion at the Center Point shopping mall in Trang at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
The Italians were caught up in the attacks in Hua Hin, a resort town about 200km from Bangkok where four bombs exploded.
A woman working at a food vending cart was killed, Police Lieutenant Colonel Samoer Yoosumran said.
Speaking later at a hospital, he said he fell down and saw people “screaming, the glass broken, table broken, confusion”. “Which group? Go find out for me”, he said.
He said it was unclear who carried them out and that the government would do its best to investigate.
On Friday morning at least eight explosions occurred in five provinces.
A string of coordinated bomb blasts within hours rocked Thailand’s famous tourist towns, including Phuket, killing four people and injuring 34 others, days after the country voted to accept a military-backed Constitution. Almost at the same time, one was injured in an explosion on Patong beach.
One person suffered minor injuries in the Phuket incident, authorities said. Half an hour later, heading back to his hotel, he saw “a good few people injured and the whole area just panicking. the whole area was just shut down with police cars, ambulances”.
He tweeted a photo of a planter that was blown apart in one of the blasts.
The 8:01 a.m. blast killed a female municipal worker. The Netherlands said four of its citizens were also wounded. Police say that at least two other devices were found and defused in Phuket on August 10. No one was injured. He said that while he might not have taken security seriously in the past, he no longer felt safe. The town was hit again by multiple blasts on Friday.
Quaglia also said the bombings are likely not related to the recent constitutional referendum, as it would be hard to plan and execute coordinated explosions in such a short time.
Friday is Mother’s Day in Thailand, which is a public holiday.
General Sithichai Srisopacharoenrath, the superintendent of police in Hua Hin, said the bombs were hidden inside potted plants and set off by remote control, half an hour apart. The city is home to many worldwide hotel chains, including the Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt.
The resort on the Gulf of Thailand is used by the Thai royal family, who stay at the Klai Kangwon, or “far from worries”, palace.
Thailand’s southern tip has been home to a festering insurgency for over a decade, but the violence is largely contained to the border region, which lies far from the site of the recent bombings.
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On Thursday afternoon, a bomb blew up in the southern province of Trang – full of handsome beaches and tourist islands – killing one person and injuring six, according to police and Thai press reports. Patong beach is lined with cafes and bars, while the district’s Bang La Road is known as one of Thaliand’s more raucous nightlife hotspots.
