Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra began a high-security visit to insurgency-wracked southern Thailand yesterday, shrugging off a series of bomb blasts that injured eight people hours before his arrival. Thaksin, supervising efforts to tackle resurgent unrest fuelled by Islamic separatist violence, touched down here as thousands of security troops guarded his every move in a region that has seen more than 590 people killed in the past 13 months. His first stop took him to Rangae district, where hours earlier three soldiers and three civilians were hurt when a bomb exploded near a market. Another bomb had exploded earlier in Ruso district here, but injured no one, police said. Full Story