Professional Soldiers ® - Multiple Bombings in Southern Thailand

How many days did we go without an "incident" ... 1 ... 2 ... ??? :munchin

Quote:

Another Bombing in Southern Thailand Kills One

BANGKOK—Police in Thailand said one person was killed and several others wounded when two bombs exploded late Tuesday in the town of Pattani, in a predominantly Muslim area wracked by a decadelong insurgency.

The initial blast at about 10:40 p.m. occurred at the rear of the Southern Hotel in the town and didn’t cause injuries. But a second bomb near the site, which was apparently designed to target emergency responders and onlookers, tore through the area. It killed a local woman, 35-year old Oraphan Sriuenhat, the state run Thai News Agency reported police as saying.

The attack comes on the back of a series of coordinated blasts earlier this month which hit some of Thailand’s most popular tourism resorts, including Hua Hin and Phuket, killing four people. Dozens more were injured.

No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility for the attacks, but some police and security officials have blamed southern insurgents from the predominantly Muslim southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed over the past 12 years as guerrillas stepped up a long-running campaign to break away from the rest of Thailand, which is mostly Buddhist.

Chaktip Chaijinda, the national police chief, said Monday that 20 people were involved in those bombs; he said he believed many of them came from Thailand’s deep south.

Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who has written extensively about the conflict in southern Thailand, suggests a new generation of younger militants could be coming to the fore with the goal of forcing the Thai government to make more concessions.

Investigators have said there are similarities in the construction of the bombs and the improvised explosive devices that are typically planted by insurgents in southern Thailand. Unlike some other militant groups in Southeast Asia, the militants in southern Thailand haven’t declared allegiance to Islamic State and instead are focused on their own, more local objectives.

Thai Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, meanwhile, said Tuesday that more time is needed to determine exactly who was responsible for the fatal attacks in Hua Hin, which is more than 190 kilometers southwest of Bangkok. Junta chief and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha initially said the blasts were the work of individuals opposed to the outcome of a recent referendum endorsing a new constitution that gives the military extensive political powers.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/another-...one-1472006285