Thai blasts raise fear of unrest in other parts

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the almost simultaneous Sunday evening blasts, which security officials blamed on Islamic militants, had raised concern across the predominantly Buddhist country.

The blasts killed two people and wounded 60, seven of them critically, health officials said.

Fears that militants might take their campaign to Bangkok weakened the Thai currency, the baht, in early trade, dealers said.

The blast in the departure lounge of Hat Yai international airport,1,000 km (620 miles) south of Bangkok, in Songkhla province was the first bomb attack on Hat Yai Airport.

Airports in the south are on full alert Monday after bomb blasts at the region's main airport and two other sites killed at least two people, wounded several dozen and raised concerns that Muslim insurgents were expanding their reach.

Several foreigners were among the wounded in the blasts late Sunday at three locations in Songkhla province: the Hat Yai airport that serves as the main gateway to Thailand's far south, a department store and a hotel.

They were the first major attacks outside of Thailand's three southernmost provinces where an Islamic insurgency has raged since early last year, claiming almost 800 lives. Songkhla is just north of that region.

"We have to check the security at all airports and railway stations in southern Thailand," the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters on Monday.

The explosion at the Hat Yai airport killed two people, Songkhla Governor Somporn Chaibongyang said. Another bomb exploded at the city's Carrefour department store, Somporn and other officials said. A third bomb exploded in front of a hotel in the city of Songkhla, on the Gulf of Thailand coast not far from Hat Yai.