Songkran Thai New Year tourism season begins with a bomb attack today

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Thainews
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Today’s explosion occurred at the start of the five-day Songkran Thai New Year holiday, as hundreds of thousands of travelers are in Thailand to experience this unique New Year festival, also known as

Today’s explosion occurred at the start of the five-day Songkran Thai New Year holiday, as hundreds of thousands of travelers are in Thailand to experience this unique New Year festival, also known as “water festival.” Hotels in Samui and in other parts of Thailand are filled with tourists from aroung the globe. The tourism industry in Thailand is fragile and has been a victim in internal Thai conflicts for some time.

A Samui shopping mall garage was today’s target of a fresh and unexpected attack against the travel and tourism industry of the Kingdom. It’s the first serious incident after the military took power and also the first attack after the recent elimination of the emergency law in the country.

Seven people, including an Italian girl, were injured when a bomb packed in a pickup truck exploded in a shopping mall car park on the popular tourist island of Samui, Thailand. Two witnesses to the bombing fainted following the explosion

The bomb was packed inside a Mazda pickup truck that had been stolen from the southern border province of Yala.

It’s still unclear to link this attack to the conflict in the three southern Thai border provinces where a low-level insurgency has killed about 6,300 people over the past 11 years.

Authorities later on Saturday said they believed the incident may have been part of a wider campaign to cause political tension and not directly related to the southern insurgency.

Two witnesses to the bombing fainted following the explosion.

Both Central Festival and the Sutat Thani Cooperative were closed and cordoned off on Saturday morning.

The southern island of Samui is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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