Security measures in Thailand's deep South to be intensified during Songkran

BANGKOK, April 3 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa has instructed authorities in Thailand's southernmost Pattani and Narathiwat provinces to be on alert during the upcoming traditional Thai New Year or Sonkran Festival, following a spate of car bombing attacks in Yala and Hat Yai in Songkhla Provinces last Saturday. General Yuthasak told reporters on Tuesday that authorities in Pattani and Narathiwat need to be on alert, as suspected insurgents may create violence during the forthcoming Songkran Festival, which officially falls from April 13 to 15. General Yuthasak acknowledged that Hat Yai district officials plan to hold a press conference on April 5 on organizing a Songkran party and an international volleyball beach competition in the southern Thai business hub, with a total of 17 countries expected to join the game. As police investigators have been tracking down the car bombers, General Yuthasak said he believes that last Saturday's car bombings were launched by hard-core insurgents as a revenge against Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command and the Fourth Army Area Command tasked with security affairs in the Thai South, after the two military agencies have launched heavy attacks against them. Asked whether an emergency decree would be imposed in Hat Yai, following the March 31's bombing spree, the Thai deputy premier noted that the issue needs to be carefully considered. Some 10 people were reportedly killed and 145 others wounded in the Yala car bombing incidents; while three people, including a Malaysian tourist, were killed and more than 400 wounded at the separate car bombing attack at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai. (TNA)