Police believe bomb attacks in Narathiwat on Friday that injured 13 people were designed to wreck tourism in the area during the Chinese New Year festival week.
Car and motorcycle bombings rocked Muang district of the southern border provinces, damaging at least 20 buildings.
Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri, assistant national police chief and spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, said officials believe the attacks were intended to destroy tourism and the region's economy at a time when tourists, typically from Malaysia, flock to the province.
A police source said authorities were warned of the bomb plots in an earlier intelligence report, and police were on high alert. But officers were reportedly caught off-guard because the attacks happened around lunchtime, the source said.
The first bomb, planted in a bronze Mitsubishi pickup truck, exploded about 1pm in front of a karaoke restaurant on Na Nagara Road in Muang district and injured 13 people — eight females and five males. They were rushed to Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital. Among the victims are two army officers: Sgt Watchara Saiwaeo and Sgt Korakot Kothong.
Firefighters extinguished the burning vehicle. The blast was so severe that it caused damage to more than 20 houses near the karaoke shop.
Another bomb was planted on a motorcycle parked about 300m away. Authorities discovered it before it detonated, and a bomb squad used a high-pressure water gun to destroy it without injuries. Police believed the bomb was intended to kill officers because the motorcycle was parked in the area where officers were expected to block traffic after the first bomb exploded.
A third attack happened when someone tossed a grenade into the front of a restaurant in tambon Lamphu in Yi-ngo district, but it did not explode, police said.
An initial investigation found the pickup truck used in the car bombing had been stolen from Songkhla, where it had been used to transport students. After it was stolen, it was used in a drive-by shooting to attack officers at Tambon Ma Krut Administration Organisation in Pattani’s Khok Pho district a month ago, police said.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha condemned the attacks yesterday and ordered the 4th Army to ramp up operations and arrest those behind the attacks.
On Thursday night in Narathiwat, a man was shot dead and another seriously wounded as they rode a motorcycle home in Sungai Kolok district, police said, but were unsure whether the attack stemmed from a personal conflict or was part of the ongoing southern violence.
The bullet-ridden body of Nirut Buesa, 20, was found lying in a pool of blood near his motorcycle on Saithong Road in tambon Sungai Kolok. Bystanders rushed the wounded man, Noppadol Waeyalee, 38, to a nearby hospital.