Three blasts hit south Thai tourist town

The first blast hit just outside a large department store, while the second was in a restaurant and the third by a pharmacy.

At least three blasts hit a southern Thai town popular with tourists on Sunday, local police said.

HT Image

Police Major General Paitoon Pattanasophon said that the explosions hit three businesses in Hat Yai, the main tourist hub in the southern region that has been gripped by a separatist insurgency. "We have reports of three almost simultaneous blasts starting at 9:00 pm (1930 IST)," he said.

The first blast hit just outside a large department store, he said, while the second was in a restaurant and the third by a pharmacy.

"I am on my way to the scene, we are checking whether there is anyone injured ... It is people trying to create public disorder," he added.

More that 2,200 people have been killed in Thailand's Muslim-majority south since a separatist insurgency erupted there in January 2004.