The AP reports:
Suspected Muslim insurgents staged the most deadly coordinated attacks in years in Thailand’s restive south, killing 14 people and injuring 340 with car bombs that targeted Saturday shoppers and a high-rise hotel frequented by foreign tourists.
A first batch of explosives planted inside a parked pickup truck ripped through an area of restaurants and shops in a busy area of Yala city, a main commercial hub of Thailand’s restive southern provinces, said district police chief Col. Kritsada Kaewchandee.
About 20 minutes later, just as onlookers gathered at the blast site, a second car bomb exploded, causing the majority of casualties. Eleven people were killed and 110 wounded by the blasts.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces — Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala — since an Islamist insurgency flared in January 2004.
The Wall Street Journal says:
The latest blasts coincide with a severe uptick in violence and tension in the region. In March, the Thai army said it was responsible for killing four civilians in Pattani province in January.
And:
Saturday’s attacks underscore how the militants are modifying their tactics by broadening their scope and searching out higher-profile targets, security analysts say.
And:
Saturday’s bombings, though, mark a fresh escalation in the conflict, turning it from a relatively low-intensity bombing campaign into one in which high-profile commercial areas are targeted.
Elsewhere, CNN has some video footage via MCOT.
Related: In Aug. I wrote a story for the Christian Science Monitor headlined “Muslim insurgency in Thailand’s restive south heats up.”
(All emphasis mine.)
(Image: Bangkok Post.)