Malaysians can reclaim vehicles at bombed Thai hotel

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysians who parked their vehicles at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai, the scene of a bomb blast, can begin collecting them from 9am today.

"A counter will be set up to facilitate the process. Please bring relevant documents," Malaysian consul-general in Songkhla Mohd Aini Atan told the New Straits Times yesterday.

Meanwhile, federal police Special Task Force (Operations and Counter Terrorism) director Datuk Mohamad Fuzi Harun said none of the four people detained by Thai police were Malaysian.

"We are in constant contact with our Thai counterparts and will provide any assistance if needed," said Fuzi, adding that security at the borders had been tightened so as to deter anyone involved in the bombing to escape into the country.

AFP reported yesterday that Thai police had detained four suspects -- three in Narathiwat and one in Yala.

Two Malaysians, Low Thian Hock, 46, and Tan Peng Chan, 39, were killed and 10 others were among the more than 300 people injured in a car bomb explosion at the hotel on Sunday afternoon.

A series of coordinated explosions occurred earlier in the morning in Yala, claiming nine lives.

The three restive southern Thai provinces near the Malaysian border, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have been through an insurgency waged by separatists since early 2004.