Pattani bombing: Police chief, senior officers oversee investigations

Thai police chief Gen Chaktip Chaijinda and other senior police officers have arrived in Pattani to oversee the investigation on the latest bombing incident to hit the town late Wednesday night.

During the incident, a woman was killed and 30 others injured when a pair of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and car bomb struck an entertainment outlet and a hotel in Pattani town.

Deputy police spokesman Maj Gen Piyapan Pingmuang said that Chaktip and other senior police officers will lead the investigation and gather vital evidences on the bomb attack.

"Gen Chaktip and the senior officers will also give moral support to authorities on the ground," he told reporters when met at the Royal Thai Police headquarters here, today.

Piyapan said initial investigation found that the bombing was not related to the series of bomb and arson attack in several southern Thai provinces recently, which killed four people and left scores injured.

Thailand was hit by a series of bomb and arson attacks a day before Thais celebrate Queen Sirikit's 84 birthday on Aug 12, which the government blamed on "local sabotage."

"We have not found any connection between last night's incident in Pattani with the recent bomb and arson attacks in seven southern Thai provinces," Piyapan said.

Nevertheless the authorities needed more time to investigate, he added.

Despite the Wednesday night's bombing incident, Piyapan said that this year's statistics showed that violent incidents in Pattani and three other volatile southern provinces had dropped by 30 per cent compared to last year.

Thai police confirmed that no Malaysian was injured in last night's incident.