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At least three people, including a foreign tourist, were killed and more than 50 wounded in three car and motorcycle bomb attacks in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district Friday night.
The first of three explosions went off at 6.40pm opposite the Teochew Association in Soi 3 of Charoen Khet Road in Sungai Kolok municipality.
The blast, which came from a parked motorcycle, wounded a large number of passersby, both tourists and locals, and killed a member of staff from the association.
About 15 minutes later, another motorcycle bomb went off in front of a bar about 300 metres from the first explosion, near a junction leading to the Sungai Kolok branch office of TOT Plc. Several Thais and Malaysian tourists sustained shrapnel wounds.
Around 7.20pm, a third bomb exploded from a car parked near a food stall opposite the Merlin Hotel.
The impact damaged several shops nearby and one side of the hotel.
Capt Theerapong Suwannawetch, commander of the 1922 task force responsible for security in Sungai Kolok, was also seriously injured.
Two more people, including a Malaysian tourist, were killed, but it is not yet known in which explosions.
Police have detained two suspects for questioning about the three bombs.
The explosions caused a wide power blackout in the downtown area.
Authorities blocked roads around the three bomb sites and mobile phone coverage was cut while they inspected the scenes, to prevent any possible remote detonations of further bombs.
The bomb attacks came hours after a Muslim police officer and a defence volunteer were shot dead in a mosque in tambon Budi in Yala's Muang district.
Pol Snr Sgt Maj Arong Malaya and defence volunteer Mahama Yama were killed in the attack by two men.
At noon prayer time, four men drove up to the mosque on two motorcycles and two of them walked up to the victims who were praying and shot them in the head. Three other villagers nearby were wounded.
Police said the two dead men used to work with Sompien Eksomya, a policeman dedicated to quelling the southern unrest.
Pol Gen Sompien was killed in a bomb blast early last year.
The mosque shooting came a day after five security officers were killed and one injured by a bomb buried under a road in Pattani's Kapho district.
In another attack, a bomb detonated at a military base of the Narathiwat 31st special task force in Cho Airong district of Narathiwat on Thursday night, wounding three soldiers.
Six soldiers had left their base to set up a checkpoint in a nearby village.
The attackers detonated a roadside bomb as the soldiers walked past.
Around the same time, another group of attackers shot at the base.
Officers believed the bomb attack was aimed at luring soldiers to leave their base to inspect the blast scene.
This made the base more vulnerable, as fewer troops were guarding it.
Deputy Prime Minister Kowit Wattana admitted suspected militants had stepped up their activity after the government transferred high-ranking officers to the region.
"I have talked to unit commanders about tightening security," he said.
"We will have to launch a pre-emptive strike [against the insurgents]."
From 2004 to August this year, 11,074 cases of violence in the Muslim-dominated provinces in the far South have been reported, and 4,846 people - mostly Muslims - have been killed, according to Deep South Watch.
In Narathiwat, police Friday arrested Maroki Ding, 30, a suspect allegedly working with the Runda Kumpulan Kecil guerrilla group, at a house in Ban Ta Lo Neng in Muang district.
Homeowner Dolo Arong, 54, was also arrested for allegedly giving the man a place to hide.
Earlier on Thursday night, in Yala and Pattani, two people were killed and four others wounded in attacks suspected of being linked to the insurgency.
One of the victims was Masainung Lateh, 46, a member of Katong tambon administration organisation in Yala's Yaha district, who was shot and killed in a drive-by attack, police said.
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3 Killed, 118 wounded by Sungai Kolok bomb
There people were confirmed dead and 118 others injured in three bomb blasts in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat on Friday night, the Ministry of Public Health reported on Saturday.
Of the total wounded bomb victims, 75 were allowed to return home, 43 admitted to hospitals in Sungai Kolok, Yala and Songkhla. Seven of them are in critical condition and two are receiving medical treatment in the intensive care units, according to the ministry.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Saturday that she had ordered deputy police chief Pol Gen Adul Saengsingkaew to go down to the deep South to resolve unrest problem there.
Ms Yingluck said she will this afternoon discuss with Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit and army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha to find ways to rapidly bring about peace and order in the three southernmost provinces.
She insisted that the government will use peaceful means in settling the problem of southern violence.
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Malaysian's death takes bome toll to 5
The death toll in Friday's series of three bomb attacks in Narathiwat's Su-ngai Kolok district has risen to five after a Malaysian tourist succumbed to his injuries.
The district's normally lively downtown area has been mostly silent since the bombs exploded on Friday evening. Tourism-related businesses have been hurt by the attacks as tourists, mostly Malaysians, have cancelled their trips and hotel reservations over safety concerns.
"Tourists have cancelled reservations for 1,800 rooms owned by 42 hotel operators," said Saengthong Preechawuttidej, chairman of the Su-ngai Kolok Hotel Association.
Police would issue arrest warrants for two of eight suspects captured on video by closed-circuit cameras in a few days, said acting national police chief Pol General Priewpan Damapong.
Yau Wing, 53, succumbed to his injuries at Yala Hospital on Saturday night.
The attacks killed four Malaysian tourists - including a 3-year-old boy - and a Thai rescue worker.
26 STILL IN HOSPITAL
Meanwhile, 26 of the more than 100 people injured remain hospitalised, six of them in serious condition. They were admitted to Yala, Songkhla Nakarin University and Su-ngai Kolok hospitals.
Priewpan was flown by helicopter to the district yesterday to inspect the attack scenes. Provincial police reported to him on the progress of the investigation.
During their report presentation, police said the two suspects were members of a militant group in Su-ngai Padi district in the same province. Police identified them only as Saman and Mading, withholding their surnames. The suspects were under surveillance by plainclothes police officers to prevent them from escaping, they said.
Priewpan said the two suspects were Runda Kumpalan Kecil (RKK) members hired by drug syndicates in the area to carry out the attack in retaliation for a major drug bust.
The RKK is a Malay nationalist group blamed for violence in the South.
TOURISM 'AFFECTED'
Saengthong said the bomb attacks on Friday evening were the worst incident since violence first broke out in 2004, as it was the first time that bomb attacks had killed foreign tourists.
He said the incident had unavoidably affected tourism, the economy and trade in the district as it caused tourists and entrepreneurs, especially those from Kelantan and Terengganu states in Malaysia, to fear for their safety.
Aman Madadam, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Narathiwat office, said the Malaysian media had devoted a lot of attention to the attacks, reporting from the district continuously.
Aman and Saengthong called on authorities to implement practical measures to ensure people's safety in a bid to restore the district's image.
Saengthong said hotel operators and other service-sector firms would not leave Su-ngai Kolok, despite the violence. But the government would have to act sincerely to end the chronic violence, he said.
Priewpan said police, military and administrative officials would adjust their security measures, taking responsibility for clearly zoned areas and co-ordinating their work.
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