DPM assures safety in Thailand's major cities

BANGKOK, April 2 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Police Captain Chalerm Yubumrung, who oversees national security, has assured safety of the country's major cities, including Bangkok, following a spate of car bombings in the country's insurgency-plagued deep South last Saturday. Police Captain Chalerm told journalists on Monday that he believes local security forces can maintain peace and order in major cities, namely Bangkok and Pattaya city in the country's eastern seaside Chonburi province. Police Captain Chalerm acknowledged that last Saturday's bombing incidents, planted by suspected insurgents, in Yala province and Hat Yat in Songkhla province could pose negative impacts on local tourism and economy. According to the Thai deputy premier, the cause of last weekend's bombing attacks has remained unknown but local police have already identified the suspected bombers and will soon arrest them. Meanwhile, some Thai senators have urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to closely monitor violence in the restive South and to boost morale of local officials and people, proposing that a joint parliamentary session of senators and members of the House of Representatives (MPs) be convened to deliberate insurgency-related problems in the Thai far South. The string of mid-day car bombings, rocking Yala and Hat Yai on March 31, killed over a dozen of people and injured more than 500 others. (TNA)