Bombs in Thailand target tourist cities

Attackers using fire bombs and home-made explosives struck a series of popular resort cities and beach towns across Thailand in some of the worst violence to hit the country since a military coup two years ago.

At least four people were killed and dozens wounded, including 11 foreigners.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks, which followed a referendum last weekend on a new constitution that critics say will bolster the military’s power.

The attacks occurred south of Bangkok and several of the blasts — including one on Loma beach in the tourist town of Phuket and four in the seaside resort city of Hua Hin — appeared designed to strike the tourism industry .

Police said fire bombs triggered blazes at markets and shops in six places, including Phuket, Trang, Surat Thani Phang Nga, and a souvenir shop in the tourist town of Ao Nang, Krabi.

Thailand’s economy has sagged since the military seized power in a 2014 coup, but tourism has remained one of the few bright spots, with visitors rising to 30m last year and more than 14m having visited by May this year, according to official figures.

Police said four of the injured tourists were from Germany, two from Italy, and one from Austria. The Netherlands said four of its citizens were wounded.

Prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the government was doing the best it “could to provide security to the country. We have to band together and stay strong”.

Police ruled out links to international terrorism.

Royal Thai Police Colonel Krisana Patanacharoen said it was “too early to conclude” who was behind the attacks, but he said the bombings followed “a similar pattern used in the southern parts of the country” — a reference to a low-level insurgency in the Islamic south that has ground on for more than a decade and killed more than 5,000 people.

Southern militants fighting for greater autonomy have carried out sophisticated, co-ordinated attacks before, but most have targeted three provinces in the far south.

The most devastating explosions occurred in Hua Hin, on a busy street filled with bars and restaurants. One Thai woman was killed and about 20 people were wounded, half of them foreigners, police Lieutenant Chaiyot Tisawong said.

General Sithichai Srisopacharoenrath, the superintendent of police in Hua Hin, said the bombs were hidden inside potted plants and set off by remote control, half an hour apart.

Separate blasts were reported elsewhere in the south. One exploded on Phuket city’s popular Loma beach, injuring one person. Two more detonated in front of two police stations half an hour apart in Surat Thani, killing one and wounding three.

Two bombs exploded outside a market in Phang Na . no-one was injured.