Special report: Situation in Thailand

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A screen grab from ITV television station shows security checking the damage from a bomb explosion in Hat Yai, southern Thailand. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BANGKOK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and over 70 others were injured in six bomb attacks Saturday night in Thai southern province of Songkhla, a military source told Xinhua.

    The six bombs went off one after anther at around 9:30 p.m. (1400 GMT), in Hat Yai City, the capital of Songkhla. Among the casualties, many are foreigners, the source said.

    One bomb was triggered inside a Chinese food restaurant where many foreigners, mainly Malaysian travelers, were have supper. Another five exploded around the Big-C shopping mall, the Odean shopping center, a car parking building, a public toilet and the Lee Gardens Hotel, which are all located in the business district of Hat Yai City.

    Police said the bomb at the massage parlour near the Odean shopping center killed five men immediately because the blast occurred while they were walking into the parlour.

    Another 70 injured people had been rushed to the Hat Yai Hospital while some officials complained that the blood was not enough.

    A stringer of Xinhua on the spot said the central city has fallen into chaos. Local police said the attackers used mobile phone signal to trigger the home-made bombs one by one and the blast happened one after another in every five minutes.

    The sounds of the blasts prompted some 1,000 Thai and foreign tourists to flee from their hotels, causing turmoil on the roads.

    Following the bombs, many entertainment venues asked the patrons to leave and they closed down for fear of more attacks.

    The Fourth Army commander Lt Gen Ongkorn Thongprasom refused to say who were responsible for the attacks, or whether it was linked to the southern muslim militants. He said he had deployed bomb disposal officers to Hat Yai to check for more bombs and ordered the cancellation of mobile phone signals in the area for fear that militants would use mobile phones to detonate more bombs.

    Earlier, Thai Army Commander-in-Chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin had ordered military personnel in the deep South to be on high alert from Saturday through Wednesday, after reports of possible attacks by the Gerakan Mujahidin Islam Pattani (GMIP), an offshoot of the southern militant group Gerakan Mujahidin Pattani (GMP), to mark its anniversary on Sept. 16.

    It is the most serious incident happened in Songkhla in recent years. Songkhla Province connects to the three southernmost provinces of Thailand which fell into violence since early 2004. At least 1,500 people have been killed since unrest broke out in the mainly Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. The violence was blamed on a complex web of Islamic separatists, local corruption and organized crime. Enditem

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