HAT YAI — Authorities have stepped up security measures against car bombs in the South's largest city following intelligence reports about possible attacks by southern insurgents this weekend.
Security officials including those responsible for explosive ordnance reconnaissance were patrolling the business district of Hat Yai around the clock. They were looking for suspiciously parked vehicles, using jammers to disconnect any mobile phone signals, and checking them for possible installation of explosives.
The surveillance focused on important commercial areas of Hat Yai. They included the Kim Yong market, Saneha Nusorn Road and Niphat Uthit 3 Road.
The action responded to stepped-up patrols followed a warning from the southern branch of the Internal Security Operations Command in Pattani province. It said an insurgent group led by Seri Waemamu, which was active in Nong Chik district of Pattani and Thepha and Chana districts of Songkhla, might be planning several bomb attacks in Hat Yai on Saturday and Sunday.
The warning went to authorities in both Songkhla and Pattani.
The southern insurgency, which has caused nearly 6,500 deaths since 2004, is largely confined to Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces. Incidents in Songkhla are very rare, although Hat Yai has been the target of bombings that resulted in fatalities in September 2006, May 2007 and May 2014.
