Airports in the South - bomb attacks

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Full alert at airports in the south after bomb attacks

Published on April 04, 2005 THE NATION

 

Airports in the south are on full alert Monday after bomb blasts at the region's main airport and two other sites killed at least two people, wounded several dozen and raised concerns that Muslim insurgents were expanding their reach.

 

Several foreigners were among the wounded in the blasts late Sunday at three locations in Songkhla province: the Hat Yai airport that serves as the main gateway to Thailand's far south, a department store and a hotel.

 

They were the first major attacks outside of Thailand's three southernmost provinces where an Islamic insurgency has raged since early last year, claiming almost 800 lives. Songkhla is just north of that region.

 

"We have to check the security at all airports and railway stations in southern Thailand," the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters on Monday.

 

The explosion at the Hat Yai airport killed two people, Songkhla Governor Somporn Chaibongyang said. Another bomb exploded at the city's Carrefour

department store, Somporn and other officials said. A third bomb exploded in front of a hotel in the city of Songkhla, on the Gulf of Thailand coast not

far from Hat Yai.

 

Hat Yai's police chief Col. Supasin Issarakul na Ayutthaya said 35 people were injured overall in the blasts but the government's Radio Thailand reported that 65 had sustained wounds, with a number of them in serious or critical condition.

 

The injured included a British woman, a French women, two people from Malaysia and two from Brunei, Supasin and hospital officials said.

 

Initial investigations showed that the powerful blasts were triggered by mobile telephone signals, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Palangoon Kraharn said.

 

Television footage showed dazed and bloodied people at Hat Yai airport being treated by paramedics.

 

The airport bomb had been left in a bag by an unidentified man in the waiting area, said Gen. Chaiyasit Shinawatra, the military supreme commander.

The bomb at the Dream World Hotel was hidden in a motorcycle, police said.

 

All three explosions took place between 8 pm and 8:30 pm, officials said