When two bombs exploded Monday in a southern Thai town, killing two policemen and injuring several people, Thailand entered the Overseas Advisory Security Council�s (OSAC) travel advisory lists, joining other Southeast nations such as Indonesia and the Philippines. According to reports, two other bombs were found before they could go off. The blasts in Pattani came a day after unidentified assailants set fire to 21 schools and raided a military armory, killing four soldiers in neighboring Narathiwat province. The government blamed Islamic separatist insurgents for those attacks. In a Los Angeles press conference to promote Thailand�s Thai Best, Thai Select campaign last month, Juthamas Siriwan, governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), was asked about travel advisories.

Siriwan said: �I think that, you know, Thailand is a very safe place and we will continue to promote that way. We have no problem. � When asked whether she supports countries advocating against travel advisories, the tourism chief opted to make no position fearing that it may be �bad news.� The two policemen were killed last Monday when they were trying to defuse a bomb planted on a motorcycle, parked in a lot of the Diana shopping mall, a police spokesman said. Another explosion occurred at a police box in a public park, injuring one officer, he said. The independent ITV television station said the device was a time bomb set to go off at 3 p.m. local time. A third bomb was found in a telephone kiosk and was defused without incident, the police spokesman said. He said a fourth bomb was found in a gasoline station and police were trying to disarm it. No other details were known. The provinces, bordering Malaysia, have long been the scene of an Islamic separatist insurgency that died down in the late 1980s. It resurfaced two years ago with attacks on government and security force targets that have left more than 50 policemen and soldiers injured. Four southern Thai provinces including Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim dominated parts in the predominantly Buddhist Thailand. ###

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