Police gathering evidence from burned department store in Thai far South

NARATHIWAT, September 1 (TNA) - Local police have kept gathering necessary evidence from a blaze which hit a largest department store in Thailand's southernmost Narathiwat Province on Friday. The local police initially assumed that those involving in the arson attack had planted a bomb which was attached with oil and caused the fire to erupt quickly. The Super Department Store, located in Narathiwat's provincial seat, was burned Friday night and the building was almost entirely destroyed, with an initial estimate of its damage said to be around 10 million baht. The local police said they were checking with pictures taken by surveillance cameras installed near the targeted department store in a bid to find the responsible arsonist. Meanwhile, volunteers in Hat Yai of nearby Songkhla Province have kept patrolling around business areas in the southern Thai business hub to prevent any possible violence, after suspected insurgents staged more than 100 incidents of violence and disruptive acts in the troubled southernmost Thai region earlier Friday. Police checkpoints have been set up around Hat Yai for inspecting suspicious vehicles. Despite the tightened security, tourists from neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore have continued visiting Hat Yai, showing that they have confidence in security measures mapped out by Thai security officers.(TNA)