Bangkok (VNA) – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ♊ordered the intensification of security in densely-populated cities and areas, especially tourist destinations, across the country.

The order came after a series of bombings killed four people and injured dozens in the southern region, Spokesman for the Thai Government Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on August 12. In an announcement delivered nationwide, Sansern said on the morning of August 12, PM Prayut asked for more security measures to be deployed at tourist destinations, densely-populated cities and areas, in particular hotels and malls. The police arrested the first suspects following the blasts, the spokesman for the Thai Police said, declining to provide details at the moment. These bomb explosions are domestic sabotaging activities, not terror ones, the police said. According to Deputy Spokesman of the Thai Police, Piyaphand Pingmuang, the underway investigation has yet found any links between the explosions at the three famed tourist destinations. It has yet figured out whether the events are linked with the insurgents in southern provinces where a large Islamic population is residing in. At least 11 bomb blasts, including dual ones, jolted five southern provinces over the past 24 hours, taking the lives of four people and wounding tens of others, including foreigners. The events took place on the eve of the 84 th birth anniversary of Queen Sirikit and just ahead of the first commemorative anniversary of the Bangkok shrine bombing that killed 20.-VNA