By CS Thana and Max Constant
BANGKOK
Thai police claimed to know Sunday who was behind the spate of deadly bombings and arson attacks which rocked the upper south of the country on Thursday and Friday, while dismissing any connection with a Malay Muslim insurgency which has destabilized the far south of the kingdom for decades.
Deputy Police Chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen told reporters an investigation had presented "a clear idea" of who is behind the swathe of bombings that rocked towns across the south overnight Thursday and Friday morning.
"These attacks were coordinated, well planned and plotted by one individual," he said.
"We cannot reveal yet who it is, but hope to have good news in the next few days."
This press conference took place following the arrest of several suspects in connection with the bombings.
Nakhon Sri Thammarat police chief Wanchai Ekpornpit told the Bangkok Post Sunday that an oil rig worker from northern Chiang Mai province working in the Gulf of Thailand had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attacks, after he was held for an arson attack on a supermarket in the southern province.
Ekpornpit said that police had “clear evidence of his involvement in the arson”.
Meanwhile, Piyapong Klinpan, a spokesman for the junta that seized power in May 2014, has told the Post that six "political activists" were also arrested in relation to the attacks.
Among those arrested were 67-year-old Prapas Rojanapithak, a native of Trang, a southern province where two blasts occurred Thursday
He is reported to be being detained at an army camp in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
In the bombing's aftermath, some Thai officials have pointed the finger towards their political opponents, most notably members of Thailand's Red Shirt movement who are in support of junta nemesis Thaksin Shinawatra , a prime minister deposed in a 2006 coup who now lives in exile.
The Post said that Rojanapithak, however, had denied any active involvement in politics and any links to the movement.
Junta chief-cum prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Friday that the people behind the bombings intended to create “chaos and confusion” because “the situation and the economy were being stabilized” after the “successful Aug. 7 constitution, however other junta leaders have been more reserved about linking the violence to the political opposition.
“Politics could be one cause... but I cannot confirm it,” the Post on Saturday quoted Deputy-Prime Minister-cum-Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan as saying.
The Aug. referendum saw the passing of a draft charter written under close supervision of the military regime by 61.35 percent of the voters.
The number of "yes" votes was especially high in the Buddhist southern provinces affected by the bombings, however "no" votes and abstentions prevailed in the deep south Muslim regions affected by insurgency.
Officials have steadfastly dismissed the possibility that a southern Muslim insurgency -- which has destabilized the three southernmost province of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat for decades -- could be behind the bombings.
On Saturday, Deputy Police Chief Pongcharoen said to the Post that the explosives devices used were similar to those used in the Malay south, but affirmed that the attacks were not related to the insurgency.
Deputy-Prime Minister-cum-Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan has also dismissed any link.
“This motive can be discarded. I confirm this is not the case,” he told the Post.
An argument used by authorities to discard the Southern insurgent theory is that they have mostly waged attacks in the three southernmost provinces.
However bombings in Hat Yai, in 2006 and 2014, and on the tourist island of Koh Samui in April 2015, were also attributed to them.
On Thursday afternoon one person died when a blast rocked Trang city, 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of the capital, Bangkok.
Subsequent blasts in Hua Hin, 200 kilometers south of Bangkok, killed two people, and an explosion in Surat Thani killed one person.
There were also more minor explosions on the tourist island of Phuket, 650 kilometers south of Bangkok, and in the coastal province of Phang-nga.
All of the areas struck are popular with foreign and local visitors, particularly on Friday, which marked the beginning of a long weekend in honor of the birthday of the queen of Thailand.
The royal family has a palace in Hua Hin, the city the most affected by the bombings, but neither the ageing king or the queen -- both hospitalized in Bangkok -- have visited the area for more than a year.
