Bomb blast injures two Thai police near army HQ in Bangkok
Two Thai police bomb disposal officers were wounded when a small, crudely-made explosive device blew up in a telephone booth outside the army headquarters in Bangkok late Sunday, police said. The explosion took place in the centre of the capital, wounding one of the two officers seriously after they came to investigate a small fire at the phone booth.
Thai police and forensic experts examine the site of a bomb blast outside the Army headquarters in Bangkok. Two Thai police bomb disposal officers were wounded when a small crudely made explosive device blew up in a telephone booth outside the army headquarters in Bangkok.(AFP)
“The bomb went off at around 8:50 or 9:00 pm,” said a local police officer. “Two police were injured, one seriously. The bomb ripped off his fingers, so his hand had to be amputated. We are investigating.”
A series of mysterious blasts have hit Bangkok over the past year, but no-one has been arrested or charged over the attacks. The biggest explosions, coordinated New Year’s Eve bomb attacks on Bangkok, killed three people and wounded 42, including several foreign tourists.
The military Internal Security Operations Command’s spokesman, Thanatip Sawangsaeng, said the blast was “unlikely to be related to the insurgency in southern Thailand. It is more likely to be politically motivated. “The explosive was not designed to kill anybody but to disturb the public.” The Thai military launched a bloodless coup in September last year that toppled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup leaders have since blamed several of the explosions on pro-Thaksin groups.
Security officials were checking the area late Sunday for more explosives.
Category: Thailand
