Bombings in southern Thailand affect FCO advice
3rd April 2012
With 13 killed and 400 injured by bombs in Hat Yai and Yala over the weekend, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising against all but essential travel to some southern provinces
At midday on Saturday the 31 March 2012, as many as three bombs exploded in two cities 87 miles apart in southern Thailand. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has now extended travel restrictions in response to the explosions, advising against all but essential travel to the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla on the Thai-Malaysia border.
Nine people were killed in the blasts, including a Malaysian tourist, and more than 100 were injured in Hat Yai when a bomb exploded in the grounds of the five-star Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel and Shopping Centre. A further four were killed in Yala and 300 were wounded when two bombs exploded in a busy shopping street. The explosives are believed to have been hidden in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles.
These attacks have been reported as 'unprecedented'. Unlike previous explosions in southern Thailand, the scale of destruction was much larger and insurgents are appearing to target tourists, or areas popular with foreign visitors.
With the annual Songkran water festival fast approaching and tourism being vital to Thailand's economy, it is unlikely the government will extend the 'state of emergency', which covers Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces, to include Hat Yai.
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