Security forces was patrolling the city around the clock. Metal and explosive detection equipment was also installed in many places in the locality. The surveillance has focused on commercial centres and public places.The measures were applied after the Internal Security Operations Command received a warning that an insurgent group in Songkhla province might be planning several bomb attacks in the city on April 23 and 24.A similar warning went to authorities in Pattani province.The southern insurgency, causing nearly 6,500 deaths since 2004, has largely been confined to provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, of which Songkhla’s city of Hat Yai was the target of deadly bombing in September 2006, May 2007, and May 2014.