Massive car bomb in Thailand’s popular Pattani holiday resort kills one and leaves dozens injured
Islamist terrorists blamed as western tourists are targeted in latest blast to rock country
AN ISLAMIST bomb as big as a MAN exploded in a Thai holiday resort on Tuesday night, killing one and leaving over 30 injured.
The explosive was placed in a car parked outside a hotel in the southern city of Pattani -- popular with tourists for its vibrant nightlife.
It is the latest in a series of terror blasts across the country carried out by jihadi killers looking to disrupt the majority-Buddhist state.
Earlier this month several co-ordinated bombs on resorts across Thailand -- including the party island of Phuket -- left four dead and 37 injured.
However, despite the similarities, Thai authorities have insisted there is no link between the attacks.
Prawit Wongsuwan, Defense Minister for the Thai military junta, said: "I am sure that the incident in Pattani last night has nothing to do with the seven provinces attacks".
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The Pattani blast was so powerful that it caused "considerable damage" to the hotel and nearby restaurants and bars, police said.
Pattani is one of the only cities in the Muslim-majority south where prostitution and drinking are allowed -- making it popular with visitors.
Thai security expert Don Pathan told news service AFP: "It's the type of place that society around here frowns upon".
There was first a small explosion at a nearby bar which was intended to make people rush onto the streets.
Then the 90kg bomb -- hidden in a stolen hospital vehicle so as to go undetected -- was detonated.
It left one person dead and 32 injured, including five in a critical condition.
They are all thought to be Thai nationals, according to an unnamed eyewitness at the hotel.
The British Foreign Office recommends avoiding "all but essential travel" to the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla near the Malaysian border.
The region has been in the grip of civil strife and terror attacks for over a decade, killing thousands.
There has been a recent uptick in killings since the military-run Thai government took control in 2014.
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