Thai police look for suspects after bombs hit tourist sites

HUA HIN, Thailand (AP) — Thais and tourists headed warily into the main part of a big holiday weekend Saturday as police looked for suspects and a motive behind a series of blasts that shook resort towns across Thailand, killing four people and wounding dozens more.

Police said firebombs also triggered blazes at markets and shops in six places, including Phuket, Trang, Surat Thani, Phang Nga and a souvenir shop in the tourist town of Ao Nang, Krabi, a seaside province known for its stunning limestone cliffs.

[...] he said the bombings followed "a similar pattern used in the southern parts of the country" — a reference to a low-level insurgency in the country's Islamic south that has ground on for more than a decade and killed more than 5,000 people.

Thai authorities said that bombing was revenge by a people-smuggling gang whose activities were disrupted by a crackdown, but analysts suspect it might have been the work of Uighur separatists angry that Thailand forcibly repatriated more than 100 Uighurs to China.

The first bomb exploded in the southern province of Trang — an area full of beautiful beaches and tourist islands — killing one person and injuring six, according to police.

[...] on Thursday night, attackers in Hua Hin hid bombs on a busy street filled with bars and restaurants, planting them inside two potted plants and were detonated by remote control about half an hour apart.