BANGKOK, Aug. 12 (UPI) — At least four people died in Thailand after 11 bombings rocked five different provinces, authorities said Friday.
The bombings began on Thursday about a half hour apart in the southern coastal resort town of Hua Hin. Officials said it appeared the bombs were hidden in two plant pots about 150 feet apart and detonated by cellphone.
At least eight more bombings took place on Friday morning. The tourist-friendly Patong Beach and Bang La Street were among the targets, said Maj. Gen. Theerapol Thipcharoen, the chief of Phuket Provincial Police.
Among the 34 injured were foreign visitors, officials said.
The so-called “double tap” strategy of offsetting bomb explosions within a short period of time, in this case 30 minutes, is somewhat popular with terrorist operatives — as it is designed to kill unsuspecting people with the first blast, and arriving emergency personnel with the second.
Two bombings occurred in Surat Thani city, at 8:01 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. local time 650 feet apart and killing a woman, local police Cpt. Chavalit Chanmornoi told CNN.
Two more bombs exploded in the Bang Miang market in Phang-nga province at 9 a.m., Royal Police said. There were no injuries in that blast.
At 9 a.m. and 9:05 a.m., another two bombs exploded in Hua Hin.
“These incidents are different from the usual terrorism acts, they are more local sabotage on certain locations and provinces,” deputy police spokesman Maj. Gen. Piyapan Pingmuang said at a news conference Friday.
Authorities said at least one woman, a food vendor near the bombs, was killed in one of the explosions — which went off at about 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time Thursday.
No terror group initially claimed responsibility for the attack.
