BANGKOK, April 1 – Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa said on Sunday that Saturday’s car bombs in Yala and Hat Yai might be the work of the same group of insurgents aiming to discredit and pressure the government.

Fourteen people were killed and more than 500 were injured in a string of mid-day car bombs in the two southern border provinces of Yala and Songkhla. Among those killed was a Malaysian male tourist who died from a car bomb in the basement of Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai, the heart of the south frequented by Malaysian and Singaporean tourists.

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