Thai police investigate weekend bombings

Thai police search for evidence at one of the blast sites. Picture / Reuters

Thai police are picking through the wreckage left after a string of bombs tore apart a popular tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens in southern Thailand.

The six simultaneous blasts ripped through Saturday night crowds in bars and cafes in Hat Yai, the main tourist hub in the southern region that has been gripped by an Islamic insurgency.

Radio Australia's correspondent in Thailand, Karen Percy, said bombs on motorbikes were parked at several locations around Hat Yai's busy entertainment and shopping district.

They are believed to have been set off via mobile phone, and at one stage the mobile phone networks were switched off in the area to prevent further attacks.

While Thailand's security agencies were anticipating violence in the south in recent days, they were not expecting an attack in the city of Hat Yai, which borders the southern provinces.

It is the second coordinated bombing attack in the region since the end of August.

The government is under pressure to find a solution in the three Muslim-dominated southern provinces because emergency powers enacted more than two and a half years ago, have failed to quell the violence.

- RADIO AUSTRALIA