Danok Lastest update

[TonyCheong]

Thai media reported no death only injuries.

There're some casualty pictures circulating on other forums.

So is there a cover up in the media or unreliable picture source?

[Cupnoodle]

Originally Posted by KatoeyLover69

See photo of damage caused by bombs ...... seems like VERY POWERFUL BOMBS !!!...

Danok bomb-pic 1
Danok bomb-pic 2
Danok bomb-pic 3
Danok bomb-pic 4
Danok bomb-pic 5
Danok bomb-pic 6
Danok bomb-pic 7
Danok bomb-pic 8
Danok bomb-pic 9
Danok bomb-pic 10

Condolence to those misfortune one, thank god to those escaped one, good luck to those going one!

God bless

[baby]

The investigation from the police

[BlueDragon193]

Danok blasts: From hell town to ghost town.

The Star/Asia News Network
Monday, Dec 23, 2013

DANOK - This border town, known for parties that go on until the wee hours of the morning had been preparing for the mother of all parties on Christmas eve.

But with the explosions rocking Danok and two other nearby towns, it was soon reduced to being a ghost town with thousands of Malaysians fleeing back across the border into Malaysia.

At Oliver Hotel, which saw the biggest explosion, the Christmas tree in the lobby was badly damaged and its ornaments strewn everywhere.

As frightened Malaysians fled the border towns of Danok, Padang Besar and Sadao, there was a more than 1.5km long bumper-to-bumper crawl at the Malaysia-Thai border of Bukit Kayu Hitam.

Malaysian Johar Jaafar, 41, a staff member at the duty free zone outlet near the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration Complex, said he heard a loud explosion at about 11.30am yesterday.

"I rushed over the border to the scene. It was chaotic.

"I have never seen anything like this before. It was terrifying.

"I helped pull out some of those injured to safety and waited for the ambulance to arrive," he said, relating his experience.
Another Malaysian seen leaving the Firatel Hotel, about 50m away from the blast scene, said he and his family had gone to Danok to celebrate Christmas.

"We didn't expect this to happen at all. We had planned to celebrate Christmas here.

"Our festive mood is gone. The whole place is like hell," said the businessman, who declined to be named.

He said he would be driving back to Perak with his wife and two sons.

Danok deputy mayor Amornrat Srisatitwong said there are currently 24 injured - two Malaysians, a Myanmar national and 21 Thais. Two Thais were also confirmed dead.

She said police still did not know the motive behind the blasts.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The STAR dated 23 December 2013 :-

Danok blasts: Horror in southern Thailand

BUKIT KAYU HITAM: The Thai border towns of Danok, Padang Besar and Sadao were rocked by pre-Christmas bombings, leaving a horrifying trail of mangled metal, burning vehicles and bloodied limbs and bodies.

Thousands of Malaysians and other tourists had gathered in the towns for shopping and Christmas partying but the series of bomb blasts left both Thais and the tourists jittery in an area where such violence has rarely been seen.

Two Malaysians were reported to be among scores of people injured in a bomb blast that rocked Danok, Padang Besar and Sadao between 11.30am and 1.40pm. Two Thais were also killed in the blasts.

Malaysian authorities moved quickly to tighten security along the border.

“People should not be worried but I advise those who have business in the area to just be wary,” said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin.

The first explosion occurred between 10.30am and 10.40am when a bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded in front of the Padang Besar police station on the Thai side of the border. Five motorcycles were damaged but no one was injured.

The second bomb exploded at about the same time. It was also placed on a motorcycle and went off in front of the Sadao police station. No one was injured.

The third and fourth explosions occurred at about 12.30pm. More than 20 people were injured.

The third bomb went off in front of the Oliver Hotel. It was placed in a car and activated with a digital watch. The explosions also resulted in a fire, which destroyed the business premises, several vehicles as well as a part of the hotel.

The fourth bomb was set off in front of a shop in Bukit Kayu Hitam on the Thai side of the border.

Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin said Wisma Putra was still trying to determine how many Malaysians had been injured. He was later quoted as saying no Malaysian was hurt although there were conflicting reports that even said three Malaysians were killed.

“For now, we advise Malaysians to postpone any travel plan to southern Thailand,” Hamzah said.

Thai Province Nine police chief Major-General Noppadol Puekso­mon said two Thais had died in the Danok blast.

“The bombings were similar to the one in Haadyai at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel on March 31 last year where three people, including two Malaysians, were killed,” he said.

Maj Gen Noppadol said they were investigating the motive behind the attack, including if Thai separatists were involved.

“We have since beefed up security in the four southern provinces to prevent a recurrence,” he added.

Malaysian deputy consul-general to Songkhla Mohd Rozaimi Harun confirmed that two Malaysians were injured in the blast in Danok.

“One of them is a woman, in her 50s, warded at the Padang Besar Hospital, while the second is a man.

“So far, there have been no reports of deaths involving Malaysians.”

Police said there had also been an attempt to explode a bomb in Phuket. However, the device was defused by the police.
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The STAR dated 23 December 2013 :-

Danok blasts: ‘Burning cars and blood everywhere’

BUKIT KAYU HITAM: Burning vehicles and bloodied limbs greeted Douglas Alexis as he approached the site where a car bomb went off in Danok.

Alexis said a jeep was burning and the blast had badly damaged the ground floor of Oliver Hotel where several shops were located.

“There were five to six people lying on the ground outside the hotel. Some looked like they had had their hands and legs blown off,” he told The Star.

Alexis, who was on one of his weekly trips to Danok to visit his wife and child who live in Roi Phat about a kilometre away, said he was walking with friends about 200m from the hotel at about noon when he heard a loud sound and “something like firecrackers going off.”

“At first I thought it was the sound of shooting, because there is a shooting range nearby.

“However, when I went closer I saw the hotel building and its surrounding area badly damaged and there was smoke all around,” he said.

The 35-year-old, who is in the transport business in Penang, instinctively knew a bomb had exploded. After all, he had been in the midst of the Lee Garden bomb explosion three years ago in Haadyai.

He said policemen arrived at the scene quickly because the police station was close by.

The area around the hotel was cordoned off for several hours as police and army personnel scoured the streets to secure the area.

Customers at other nearby hotels were also evacuated.

“We are not under lockdown, but most places and shops in the affected area are closed and security is tight. It looks like the place is under military control,” he said.

Alexis said he is worried because Danok has not been known to be the target of attacks unlike towns like Patani and Narathiwat.

An escalator technician identified as Keong, meanwhile, had been looking forward to his bak kut teh lunch when the bomb went off.

“I couldn’t have been more than 100m away from where the bomb went off. I felt the impact and it was like someone pushing me.

“It was deafening and earth shattering,” said the 26-year-old.

Keong and his colleague had only minutes earlier parked their car in front of the Paragon Disco next to the hotel and were placing their order at the restaurant across the road when the explosion occurred.

“I turned around and I could see shattered glass and building debris falling down,” he said when reached on the phone yesterday.

Keong said everyone in the restaurant and neighbouring premises ran to the main road about 100m away.

“I heard some people screaming but I didn’t see any injured or dead people.

“I was not sure what happened. Some said it was due to gas leak. The police cordoned off the area soon after the incident,” he said.

“My colleague and I are really fortunate to escape unscathed,” he said.

The two had arrived in Danok on Thursday in the car belonging to their supervisor to work on a project.

Car owner Wong Jit Weng, 33, said he received a call from Keong at about 1.45pm to inform him of the blast.

“They had visited Danok twice in the last two months to work on the project,” he said.
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[Gingerman]

Lucky my girl not working that day, my regular girl I get is from that shop just where the bomb was parked. Hope the OKT Audi is OK.

[TonyCheong]

Originally Posted by KatoeyLover69

The two had arrived in Danok on Thursday in the car belonging to their supervisor to work on a project.

Car owner Wong Jit Weng, 33, said he received a call from Keong at about 1.45pm to inform him of the blast.

“They had visited Danok twice in the last two months to work on the project,” he said.

"Project".

[baby]

Originally Posted by Gingerman

Lucky my girl not working that day, my regular girl I get is from that shop just where the bomb was parked. Hope the OKT Audi is OK.

Heh bro same same as i show u the photo at whts app on my gal room

[Gingerman]

Originally Posted by baby

Heh bro same same as i show u the photo at whts app on my gal room

U got see the video I share with u on Facebook?

[baby]

Originally Posted by Gingerman

U got see the video I share with u on Facebook?

Hahaha bro if u see my early post in here I already knew tht

[Grounded Eagle]

Originally Posted by Gingerman

Lucky my girl not working that day, my regular girl I get is from that shop just where the bomb was parked. Hope the OKT Audi is OK.

Are you on the ground in Danok now? Or is there any other bro there now?
I heard from a contact who used to work in one of the KFC there that her okt was found dead and floating in a pond 2 days ago. Any news from the ground?

[KatoeyLover69]

Thai police beef up security in Danok

DANOK (Dec 23, 2013): Thailand police have enforced tight security around the Hotel Oliver area in Danok, the site of a bomb blast that rocked the border town between Malaysia and Thailand, yesterday.

However, the surrounding areas remained quiet and peaceful with no further incidents reported while business at the area went on as usual.

A food stall owner in Danok, Adul Ulang Adul Halim Mahmud, 51, said the incident, the first in the town for more than 30 years, shocked the people and business community in the area.

"We have lived here and gone about our business for 30 odd years and this is the first bombing incident. There may have been a specific motive but it is going to affect tourist arrivals, especially Malaysians and hurt business," he told Bernama, here today.

Adul Halim was however, happy that the situation was under control and hoped the situation would return to normal soon.

Meanwhile, Songkhla Governor Girisada Booncharn is expected to visit the site of the bomb explosion today in Danok.

Yesterday, South Thailand was rocked by a series of explosions in Padang Besar, Danok and Sadao, killing two Thais and injuring 25 others. No Malaysians were injured in the incident. – Bernama
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork

[pj_soldier]

Luckily, it exploded in the early day. Otherwise, if it gone off at evening, there will real mayhem !!

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The New Straits Times dated 24 December 2013 :-

Unfazed by Thai blasts

BUKIT KAYU HITAM: DESPITE a government travel advisory cautioning against travelling to southern Thailand following bombings in Sadao on Sunday, Malaysians are unperturbed and are proceeding with their holiday plans.

Checks at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex yesterday showed that Malaysians were still making a beeline for Thailand.

A source at the state Immigration Department said that as of noon yesterday, more than 6,000 people from Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Indonesia and Singapore had crossed the border since the gates opened at 6am.

Dozens of tour and express buses ferrying the visitors had queued up at the border waiting for the gates to open.

It is understood that most of the visitors were heading to Hat Yai, 60km from Dannok town where the bombings occurred.

A Malaysian, who wished to be identified only as Koh, said he was aware of the incident but decided to proceed with his plan to spend Christmas and school holidays in Songkhla and Hat Yai.

However, he said his family were headed straight for Hat Yai instead of stopping over at Dannok.

"Yes, I do feel bit anxious over the safety of my family following the bombings but we cannot simply cancel the trip we had planned since early this year.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have a safe four-day holiday there," said the father of two from Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian, Lee Chun Pang, 28, from Teluk Intan, Perak played down the incident as "nothing new".

"In fact, I had stayed in Dannok for almost a week prior to the Sunday incident and wasn't far from the bomb site."

Lee said he was there during the hotel parking lot bombing at Hat Yai in March last year but the incidents had not deterred him from holidaying in Songkhla province.

In that incident, 14 people, including a Malaysian, were killed while more than 400 were injured when a bomb planted in a car at the hotel's multi-storey parking bay went-off.

It was one of the deadliest incidents involving southern Thai separatists since 2004.

Travel and tour agency operator Goh Wei Meng, who operates his business in Changlun, 7km from the Malaysia-Thai border, said there had been no cancellations.

"Since 4am today (yesterday), many Malaysians from Kuala Lumpur and Penang left for holiday to Hat Yai."

In the Sunday incident, a bomb planted on a motorcycle left in front of the Thai police station 1km away, exploded, followed by another blast at a police station in Sadao an hour later.

The third and biggest bomb, planted in a pick-up truck, went off in front of Oliver Hotel about 12.45pm Thailand time.

More than 20 Thai nationals were injured in the incidents.

Thai police have since tightened security around the hotel.

Malaysian police, meanwhile, have stepped up security along the Malaysian-Thai border.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said police were working closely with the Royal Thai Police to boost security following the attacks.

He also said that there was close cooperation between the two forces in terms of intelligence gathering and inspections along the border to prevent a repeat of the incidents.
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork