Twin bombings in Thailand resort town leave one dead

World Today

Photo: Matichon Online

Two explosions ripped through the popular Thai tourist resort of Hua Hin Friday local time, killing at least one woman and injuring at least 20 people.

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The explosions happened ahead of Mother’s Day, a public holiday to mark the birthday of Queen Sirikit. Hua Hin is a popular upscale Thai resort about 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Bangkok and many people have gone there for the holiday weekend.

The bombings were 50 meters apart each from other at a popular night market. According to the BBC, the bombs were hidden in plant pots and detonated by mobile phones, police said.

Thai media reported that the injuries occurred in the second explosion near a bar at about 10:20 p.m. (1320 GMT). That explosion killed a Thai woman, a local business owner. At least eight foreigners and one other Thai person were also injured, local deputy police chief Samer Yousamran told Reuters.

Photo: Matichon Online

Photo: Matichon Online

Tourists have been evacuated and the injured have been rushed to a local hospital.

In a separate incident earlier on Thursday, a bomb exploded at a market in the southern Trang province in Thailand, injuring six people, police said. Police believe that explosion was related to a local dispute.

Thais voted less than a week ago in a referendum to adopt a military-backed constitution, the first test of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha at the ballot box since he seized power in a coup in May 2014.

Thailand’s 88 year-old King Bhumibol Adulayadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch, and his wife Sirikit are in hospital in Bangkok but have resided in recent years in Hua Hin at the Klai Kangwon Palace royal palace, which translates as “Far from Worries Palace”.

King Bhumibol has received treatment for an infection over the past month in a Bangkok hospital, the Royal Household Bureau said on Aug. 1.

Story by CCTV News and Reuters.