PM heads to Songkhla for talks on improving security
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Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived in the southern province of Songkhla on Monday to visit the victims of the weekend car bombing at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel.
The premier will chair a meeting of agencies concerned to discuss improved security measures to prevent future attacks in the southern provinces.
Fourteen people were killed and more than 500 injured in a series of mid-day car bombings in the southern border provinces of Yala and Songkhla. Two car bomb attacks took place in the provincial seat of Yala and another car bomb was detonated in the basement of the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai.
Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel owner Wanchai Leelasitorn told reporters that he had not yet assessed the damage from the explosion that caused a fire at the hotel and adjacent shopping plaza, as he was awaiting an official inspection of the scene.
He said that even though the hotel applied strict security measures, it could not deter assailants who found security loopholes to launch an attack.
All closed circuit television cameras in the hotel operated normally during the incident and recorded footage that could benefit the investigation, he said.
Wanchai said that he could not specify how long the hotel would be closed, but he was ready to renovate and reopen his hotel as soon as possible.
