At least six small bombs exploded in Bangkok on Sunday, killing two people, wounding more than 20 and shocking the Thai capital into cancelling New Year countdown celebrations.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs, which went off within about an hour and included one put under a seat at a bus stop outside a shopping mall which killed one person and wounded 16.
All were planted well away from areas frequented by the many foreign holidaymakers who head to Thailand at this time of year, the country’s high season for tourism.
Police said there were no immediate arrests and there was no apparent connection to violence in the Muslim far south where militants have set off similar series of bombs in towns during three years of separatist insurgency.
”I don’t believe it has anything to do with the militants in the south,” deputy national police chief General Achiravit Supanpasat told a news conference, referring to an insurgency which has cost more than 1 800 lives.
The militants in a region annexed by overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand a century ago, who never claim responsibility for attacks, are not known to have launched attacks outside the region so far despite constant fears they would.
But Achiravit did not say who police think was responsible for the first such violence in Bangkok since a September 19 coup ousted elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Some schools have been burned down outside Bangkok and the army has maintained martial law in several areas, citing ”undercurrents”, but Thaksin supporters have denied any recourse to violence.
Early countdown
Soldiers armed with M-16 assault rifles took over areas around the places where the bombs went off but Achiravit said no curfew was necessary, despite rumours sweeping the city that one would be imposed.
Nevertheless, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin went on stage at the main New Year party in the city’s premier shopping district and led the countdown more than three hours early.
Police then moved in to usher people away.
”To be on the safe side, we told people to go home,” Apirak told reporters, promising a joint police/army security operation throughout Bangkok with special emphasis on transport routes and the city’s many shopping malls.
”This is one thing we did not expect to happen in Thailand,” said Israeli project manager Smadr Ludomieski (26) as she joined the thousands of people streaming away from the aborted party.
She said she would stay in Thailand for the last three weeks of an extended holiday with her boyfriend. ”You can’t let the terrorists win,” she said.
Police also pulled the plug on the New Year party on Khao San Road, where many foreign backpackers stay, halting the band in mid-song.
The bomb outside the shopping mall near the Victory Monument in the centre of the city caused the largest number of injuries.
”There was a big bang and people started screaming and running. I saw people with blood all over their legs and faces,” said Chalermsak Sanbee (17) who was standing near the bus stop.
Another was placed in a trash can at a market in the port district, killing one person and wounding four, including a 10-year-old child. One went off near a police booth, wounding two, police said. – Reuters