PHETCHABURI - A military court on Thursday approved a warrant for the arrest of the third suspect in the Aug 12 bombings in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Hua Hin district.
The warrant was issued for Saree Waedamu, 31, whose registered residence is in Thepa district of the southern province of Songkhla.
Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, a deputy police chief, filed the application for an arrest warrant with the 15th Military Circle Military Court in Phetchaburi on Thursday morning.
Pol Gen Srivara said afterwards the suspect was wanted on charges of illegally having explosives in possession and attempted arson. He did not reveal the identity of the suspect.
The application was supported by forensic analysis of images of suspects filmed by security cameras. The suspect was believed to have previously been involved in several violent incidents in the far South, he said.
The court later approved the warrant.
The 15th Military Circle court earlier approved an arrest warrant for another suspect in the Hua Hin bombings that that killed two people an injured about 20 others on Aug 12.
Pol Gen Srivara said the investigation into the arson and bombings in Prachuap Khiri Khan and seven other provinces on Aug 11-12 had made much progress.
Arrest warrants have now been approved for all three of the suspects for the Hua Hin bombings. The other two are Ruslan Baima and Ausmin Katemdeema.
The police have also obtained arrest warrants for another three suspects in the wave of attacks that spread to seven other provinces - Ahama Lengha, who operated in Phuket; Hakeem Dorlah in Nakhon Si Thammarat; and Abdul Kordae Salae in Trang.
Four people died and 35 were injured by a series of 13 bomb blasts and four arson attacks in total, which occurred in the central region's Prachuap Khiri Khan province and in Trang, Hua Hin, Phuket, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces further south.
Pol Gen Srivara said warrants would soon be sought for two more suspects in the Phangnga and Krabi attacks.
He believed the attacks in the seven southern provinces were intended to create unrest but had nothing to do with the Muslim insurgency in the three southernmost border provinces or the ongoing peace talks between Thai authorities and the Mara Patani group representing separatist groups.
It was still not known who were actually behind the attacks, he said.
Asked about a report the BRN separatist group had claimed responsibility for the attacks in the seven provinces and the recent car bomb in front of Taba School in Tak Bai distict in Narathiwat, Pol Gen Srivara said he was not convinced by it. There had been no information or any evidence of the group's involvement.
BRN is a key member of Mara Patani.
The car bomb in Tak Bai district was believed to be the work of an old group of separatist militants wanting to cause unrest, he said.