BANGKOK — At least six small bombs exploded in Bangkok on Sunday, killing two people and wounding more than 20, shocking the Thai capital into cancelling some New Year countdown celebrations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs, which went off within about an hour and included one planted under a seat at a bus stop outside a shopping mall which wounded 17 people, two seriously, they said.

Police said they did not believe the bombs were the work of militants in the Muslim-majority far south who have set off a series of bombs in towns there during three years of separatist insurgency and who do not issue claims of responsibility.

“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 are not known to have launched attacks outside the region so far despite constant fears they would.

But Achiravit did not say who police did 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.

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 rumors sweeping the city that one would be imposed.

“The countdown parties will continue, but we ask the public to be vigilant,” he said.

Nevertheless, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin went on stage at the main party in the city’s main shopping district and led the countdown more than three hours early.

Police then moved in to usher people home. They 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 center of the Thai capital appeared to have 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 went off near a police booth, wounding two people, and a third was placed in a trash can at a market in the port district and wounded five, including a 10-year-old, police said.

A fourth went off in the parking lot of a shopping mall on the road to Bangkok’s new airport.

Source: Reuters

BANGKOK — At least six small bombs exploded in Bangkok on Sunday, killing two people and wounding more than 20, shocking the Thai capital into cancelling some New Year countdown celebrations.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs, which went off within about an hour and included one planted under a seat at a bus stop outside a shopping mall which wounded 17 people, two seriously, they said.

Police said they did not believe the bombs were the work of militants in the Muslim-majority far south who have set off a series of bombs in towns there during three years of separatist insurgency and who do not issue claims of responsibility.

“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 are not known to have launched attacks outside the region so far despite constant fears they would.

But Achiravit did not say who police did 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.

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 rumors sweeping the city that one would be imposed.

“The countdown parties will continue, but we ask the public to be vigilant,” he said.

Nevertheless, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin went on stage at the main party in the city’s main shopping district and led the countdown more than three hours early.

Police then moved in to usher people home. They 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 center of the Thai capital appeared to have 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 went off near a police booth, wounding two people, and a third was placed in a trash can at a market in the port district and wounded five, including a 10-year-old, police said.

A fourth went off in the parking lot of a shopping mall on the road to Bangkok’s new airport.

Source: Reuters