Analysts say the style of last week’s bombs mirrors those used by separatists in the far south.
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Thai Airways International, Thailand’s flag carrier, said Monday that the string of bombings last week will have only a “marginal impact” on its business.
BANGKOK (AP) – Thai authorities said Monday they are investigating whether bombings last week at several popular tourist destinations were related to long-term separatist violence in the country’s far south, backing away from assertions that partisan politics were behind them.
A bomb attack on a Bangkok shrine on August 17 past year, killed 20 people, more than half of them Asian tourists, but it did not seriously undermine the industry.
However, he did not identify or elaborate at this stage on the individual mastermind or the motives behind the attacks, which killed four people and injured dozens of Thais and foreigners. The Tourism Authority of Thailand is preparing the holiday proposal.
According to the Bangkok Post, the explosions came just days after Thai voters approved of a new disputed referendum to the constitution which would give more powers to the military, but some authorities say it would have been almost impossible to plan such wide-spread attacks in that short of an amount of time.
In the aftermath of a coordinated wave of bombings that shook tourist towns in Thailand this week, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s military government is scrambling to hunt down those responsible.
Thai Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul visits Italian tourist Lorenzo Minuti, who was injured in a bomb blast, at Sanpaulo hospital in Hua Hin, Thailand.
At least five explosive devices were found near Patong Beach on Phuket island, where there are many bars and massage parlours that southern insurgents see as being “sinful”.
Nevertheless, these attacks are a great embarrassment for the ruling junta, who were in a festive mood after the August 7 referendum, in which 60 percent of voters said they were in favor of the controversial draft charter. Thirteen people were killed and more than 300 wounded in March 2012 when multiple bombs went off in Yala and Hat Yai, a bustling commercial centre north of the three southern provinces popular with Malaysian visitors.
Since 2004, at least 5,000 people have died violently in the insurgency, which is mainly being fought in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces. No one has claimed responsibility for any of the 11 bombings.
The conflict broadly pits ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his rural supporters against a Bangkok-based elite that backed his ouster in 2006 and the recent coup that toppled his sister Yingluck’s administration.
It followed the approval, in an August 7 referendum, of a new constitution that will give the military greater powers of oversight of any future civilian governments, including authorization to conduct coups.
“More than ever we need to work together to make a great success out of the celebrations of World Tourism Day, this will be the best expression of support and union against these disgusting acts.” said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai.
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A leader of the “Red Shirts” – the grassroots movement supportive of the ousted government and hostile to the junta – expressed concern Sunday his network would be fingered for the attacks.
