SONGKHLA, April 8— Around 1,000 security personnel will be deployed to tighten security measures in Songkhla’s Hat Yai during Songkran festival, the Thai traditional new year, after a March 31 car bomb attack at a hotel in downtown Hat Yai district.
Approximately 1,000 personnel, comprising a combined force of police, soldiers, administrative authorities and civil volunteers, would be stationed at seven safety zones and checkpoints on 47 roads to provide security in Hat Yai district during the Songkran festival and to brace for possible security threats after the recent car bombing on March 31.
Apart from the security personnel, the radio communication network would be on standby for security-related incidents as well.
The plan to step up security came after a Sunday meeting between Army Region 4 commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Thammasarorat, Region 9 Police commander Chakthip Chaichinda, Songkhla governor Kritsada Boonrat, provincial police and representatives from the tourism business sector to review security measures during the Thai New Year festival through to the Thailand University Games 2012, to be held from May 1-8.
Mr Kritsada said relevant officials continued to closely monitor the situation and were setting up checkpoints on 47 roads for at least three months, urging community leaders to follow up and report evidence related to the bomb suspects.
To ensure security for southern residents, Lt-Gen Udomchai ordered military personnel to closely search and detain suspected insurgent leaders and supporters in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat as well as in Songkhla.
In a development related to the car bombing, Pol Lt Gen Chakthip said that after arrest warrants were issued for the two men appearing on closed circuit TV footage from the hotel’s basement car park, witnesses confirmed that one of the duo was Seri Waemamu.
Mr Seri is a resident of Songkhla’s Thepa district and an active suspect with arrest warrants in 12 cases.
Meanwhile, the other man was presumed to be Susalan Baima. The police are waiting for witnesses to identify him.
In Yala, where two car bombings claimed 11 lives on the same day as the bombing at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel on March 31, a combined force of army rangers, administrative authorities, police and volunteers also set up checkpoints on Ruammit road, which was the designated safety zone and the province’s business area.
