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Two foreigners among four dead in south Thailand blasts

Two, including a Canadian holidaymaker, were killed instantly by the multiple blasts, police informed, adding that two more later died of their injuries.

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HAT YAI/THAILAND: Four people, including two foreigners, were killed overnight after five bombs ripped through a popular tourist area in Thailand's mostly-Muslim south, police said on Sunday.     

 

Two, including a Canadian holidaymaker, were killed instantly by the multiple blasts, police informed, adding that two more later died of their injuries.            

 

A female Chinese tourist was among the dead, officials at Songklanakarin hospital said. Some 62 others were wounded in the blasts, including 11 foreigners, according to police.     

 

"There are four people dead and another 62 people wounded in five bomb blasts last night," said Paitoon Pattanasophon, police chief in Songkhla province, where Hat Yai -- southern Thailand's tourist hub -- is located.              

 

Police say the bombs exploded almost simultaneously in an area crowded with bars and cafes, as well as at department stores, late Saturday.      

 

Thai television showed bloodied victims lying in restaurants or being led to safety by rescue personnel, as vehicles burned in streets strewn with shattered glass and overturned tables and chairs.        

 

One body was shown covered with a white sheet next to an overturned motorcycle. Dozens of other motorcycles and larger vehicles also appeared to be destroyed.            

 

As day broke, crowds of shocked onlookers stood amid debris and pools of blood at the blast sites. Pieces of motorcycle littered the street outside a bar where one explosion occurred, shredding nearby awnings and peppering walls with bits of shrapnel.             

 

Parts of Songkhla province are under martial law as the government struggles to contain an Islamic insurgency that has killed more than 1,400 people since January 2004, mostly in the three southern-most Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia.          

 

The blasts occurred the same day that the military held a meeting with some 1,000 villagers in the south in a bid to end the long-running violence.     

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