Thai cops probe bombing link to south insurgency
Print Edition
THAI authorities said yesterday 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.
Police have made no formal arrests in the bomb and arson attacks in seven towns that killed four people and wounded dozens, including foreign tourists. They told a news conference that several people have been detained for questioning, but gave no details. Those detained have been identified by Thai media as political activists opposed to the country’s ruling military junta.
The attackers’ tactics have led to speculation that the bombings were carried out by Muslim separatists in the south who have staged a low-level insurgency since 2004. Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but its three southernmost provinces have Muslim majorities.
National police chief General Chakthip Chaijinda acknowledged yesterday there were similarities between the tourist spot bombings and those carried out by the separatists. “I’ve always said since the beginning and I’ve never said anything else, there are similarities in bomb-making methods and the equipment used,” he told reporters.
Senior Thai officials suggested strongly soon after the Thursday-Friday attacks at Hua Hin and other holiday spots that they were carried out by political opponents of the military government. The views suggested the perpetrators were linked to supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup. His supporters and opponents have since then carried out a sometimes-violent struggle for power. The army in 2014 toppled an elected government that had been led by Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
Evidence pointing toward southern militants includes at least one recovered cellphone used as a trigger in last week’s bombings that originated in Malaysia, which is on the other side of a porous southern border.
Malaysian police chief Khalif Abu Bakar confirmed that they received details from Thai police and are trying to track the phone’s dealer and buyer.
Several new attacks took place on Sunday and yesterday in two of the south provinces where bombings and drive-by shootings have become almost a daily occurrence over the past decade. Three homemade bombs exploded on Sunday night in Yala town, causing property damage but no casualties, while roadside bombs detonated yesterday in Narathiwat province injured two soldiers.
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