At Least Two Dead In Bangkok Blasts

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/31/world/printable2318339.shtml




At Least Two Dead In Bangkok Blasts

BANGKOK, Dec. 31, 2006

(AP) Six or more bomb blasts rocked the Thai capital Bangkok on New Year's Eve, killing at least two people and injuring more than 20, police and health officials said. The culprits and motive were unknown.

The bombings in several parts of city capped a year of unrest in Thailand, including a military coup three months ago and a mounting Muslim insurgency in the south.

National police chief Gen. Ajirawit Suphanaphesat confirmed on the iTV television network that six blasts occurred, and that authorities were inspecting several more locations where there were suspicious packages.

Bangkok's mayor Apirak Kosayothin ordered the cancellation of the two major countdown celebrations as well as other smaller public ones as police and troops were sent to safeguard entreatment venues and key sites in the capital.

""Due to several bomb explosions in Bangkok and for the sake of peace and security, I would ask all of you to return to your homes now," he told some 5,000 revelers at the Central World Plaza shopping mall complex. The crowd began to disperse quickly.

Hotels stepped up security, searching cars on their premises and even some fast food outlets closed their doors early.

Police Lt. Gen. Chongrak Juranond said one person died at Chulalongkorn hospital. Another police officer, Lt. Col. Teerawit Butsaban, said a second person succumbed to injuries at another hospital.

A senior health ministry official, Surachet Sathitniramai, said that more than 20 people had been hospitalized at four Bangkok hospitals.

Ajirawit said six people were injured by a bomb in the slum area of Klong Toey, and four by a bomb near a department store at the Victory Monument, which is on a major traffic circle.

He said other blasts occurred near a police post in the Saphan Kwai district, where two were injured, and in Kae Lai district in Nonthaburi, a northern suburb of Bangkok.

"I heard a loud explosion and I thought it was fireworks. I ran there and saw a bleeding woman at the bus stop," said Somrak Manphothong, a receptionist at the Saxophone bar near the Victory Monument.

"Another guy was lying on the floor, covered with blood, and his wife was shaking his body."

At the Klong Toey vegetable market where one bomb was set off, a pool of blood mixed with egg yolk covered the roadside next to an overturned motorcycle.

There was no immediate word on the attackers' identities or possible motive.

The police chief said that "the situation remains under control," but cautioned those out celebrating to exercise caution and to notify police immediately if they find suspicious objects.

Bombings and shootings occur almost daily in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where an Islamic insurgency that flared in January 2004 has killed more than 1,900 people. But Ajirawit said the insurgents were probably not behind Sunday's attacks.

Muslims make up the majority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand's deep south, where they have long complained of discrimination.

The insurgents are not known to have launched any attacks in Bangkok.

Thailand has also been immersed in political turmoil.

In September, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a bloodless coup by Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin. The military installed Surayud Chulanont as the interim prime minister until elections in October 2007.



By Denis D. Gray
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