Car bomb in Ko Samui

This item appears on page 17 of the June 2015 issue.

On the island of Ko Samui, Thailand, a bomb placed in a parked car exploded at the Central Festival Samui mall on April 10, injuring seven people, including a 12-year-old Italian tourist. 

Officials suspect that the person responsible for the bombing is from one of the three southern Thailand provinces where Muslim insurgents have repeatedly used bombs in attacks. Ko Samui, a popular tourist destination just north of the southern provinces, had not previously been the target of a bomb attack.

On April 1, Thailand’s government lifted martial law, which had been in effect since the military took control in May 2014.