Bomaanslagen in Bangkok op Oudejaarsavond

[Krung_Thep]

BOMBS SHATTER NEW YEAR’S EVE

Two dead, 15 hurt in Bangkok explosions – City Hall cancels midnight countdown – Police discount link to southern insurgency

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Police clear the area near the entry to the Klong Toey fresh market where a bomb exploded in a rubbish bin, killing the caretaker of a Chinese shrine. — PHRAKRIT JUNTAWONG

Bangkok plunged into year-end chaos after six bombs, five in the city and one in nearby Nonthaburi, exploded almost simultaneously yesterday evening, killing two people and injuring at least 15, two of them seriously.

The explosions occurred at a bus stop near the Victory Monument, in a rubbish bin at the main market in Klong Toey, traffic police booths in Saphan Kwai and at Sukhumvit Soi 62 and in a parking lot at Seacon Square department store on Sri Nakharin road.

In Nonthaburi, a bomb blew up a police booth at the Kaerai intersection.

The explosions came within a 15-minute span beginning at the Victory Monument about 6.30pm.

Those who died were Songkran Kanchana, 36, and Suvichai Nak-iam, 61. Songkran was injured at Victory Monument. He was pronounced dead at Rajavithi Hospital. Suvichai, caretaker of a Chinese shrine in Klong Toey, was pronounced dead at Chulalongkorn Hospital. Two children were also injured in the Klong Toey blast.

It was unclear who were behind the blasts, but police dismissed any connection with the southern insurgency. Across major web newsboards, the majority believed the attacks were the work of opponents of the military coup which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19.

A few hours after the blasts, bomb experts rushed to several spots, including superstore Big C Ratchadamri and Vibhavadi Rangsit Soi 2, opposite Chamber of Commerce University, where suspicious objects were reportedly found. Police spokesman Achirawit Supanphesat later confirmed the blasts at Klong Toey, Victory Monument and Saphan Kwai injured at least 15 people. It was unclear how many were wounded at which locations.

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An investigator collects forensic evidence from the bus stop near Victory Monument where a bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded, fatally injuring a passerby. — PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD

Those injured at the Victory Monument blast and treated at nearby Rajavithi Hospital were Yossapas Muangbao, Narongchai Rungcharoen, Ratchaneewan Klaying, Oamchai Pongpornchetta and three others identified as Natthanant, Chob and Aranya. At least two of them, one identified as Samruay Sida, were critically wounded.

Public health permanent secretary Prat Boonyawongvirote said injured were also treated at Phra Mongkut, Kluay Namthai and Paolo hospitals.

Ms Oamchai who was waiting for an operation last night at Rajavithi Hospital said she heard a loud noise and did not realise it was a bomb blast. Her body was soaked with blood, when people rushed her to hospital.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanon ordered the defence minister, the deputy army chief and Army Region 1 to tighten security and visited the bomb victims at Rajavithi Hospital last night.

The blasts caused most department stores in Bangkok to close two to three hours early. Armed soldiers were deployed to guard important public places and major intersections.

Organisers of the New Year countdown at CentralWorld “moved the event up” three hours for safety reasons.

New Year countdown celebrations in Chiang Mai also wound down early.

Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin addressed tens of thousands of revellers packing Ratchadamri road about 8.45 pm. Shortly afterward the crowds dispersed. Events at Sanam Luang and Wat Saket, organised by City Hall were also cancelled.

News of the bombs, often spread through mobile phones, saw revellers leave the countdown areas en masse last night before the celebrations ended early. Traffic was gridlocked in many areas.

Napawadee Ananukarn, an office employee, 38, said she decided to cancel a New Year eve dinner after learning of the bombings from her family.

Assistant army chief Gen Anupong Paochinda said the First Army had sent troops to help step up security.

He said martial law had not actually been lifted as it was not submitted for royal endorsement.

National police chief Kowit Wattana put the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the Central Investigation Bureau and the Special Branch Police on standby with security stepped up in and around Bangkok.

The Council for National Security immediately ordered a security beefup for important areas including Laem Chabang Port, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

In Chiang Mai the Third Army issued a security alert and set up several checkpoints which were being manned by para-military troops.

*Bron: Bangkok Post / www.bangkokpost.com *

[Krung_Thep]

**Update: ‘Stay at home today’
**
Bangkok (dpa) - A spate of New Year’s Eve bombings in Bangkok, including two set off shortly after midnight, killed at least three people and injured 36 others including six foreigners, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin and hospital sources said Monday.

Altogether seven bombs were detonated in Bangkok and one in nearby Nonthaburi province on Sunday and early Monday, Apirak said.

In the first spate of attacks, six bombs and grenades were set off Sunday evening shortly after 6 p.m., killing two Thais and injuring about 25 people. A third victim died in hospital on Monday.

Two more bombs were detonated shortly after midnight near the Central World Plaza department store in Bangkok, where a New Year’s countdown had been planned but cancelled.

Bangkok authorities issued warnings to revellers to cancel their New Year’s Eve celebrations shortly after the first spate of attacks. Public countdowns for the New Year were cancelled at Sanam Luang and the Central World Plaza.

A bomb set off minutes after midnight at the Best Seafood restaurant near Central World Plaza ripped off the leg of one foreigner and injured three others along with two Thais, according to the Bangkok Post online.

A second bomb was detonated at Central World Plaza near the spot where a New Year’s Eve public party had been scheduled.

Authorities said the second explosion wounded both foreigners and Thais passing by.

All those injured in the World Central Plaza vicinity were taken to the nearby Bangkok Police Hospital.

According to hospital sources the injured included two British nationals, two Serbians, one Irish national and one Hungarian. Their names were not immediately available.

Two other bombs were reportedly defused by police before they exploded, including one at a bar on Khao Sarn Road, the capital’s most popular place for budget travellers.

“We still don’t know who was behind the bombings,” said Apirak, who advised people to stay home unless it was necessary to go out on Monday, a public holiday. The governor said a meeting was scheduled Monday morning with Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to discuss the attacks.

The six bombs that went off earlier Sunday were placed at busy Victory Monument, near a Chinese temple in Klong Toey, two police traffic box at Sukhumvit Soi 62 and another in Nonthaburi, behind the Seacon Square shopping mall in eastern Bangkok and at a Tesco supermarket.

Initial speculation was that the bombs were either the work of Muslim rebels from Thailand’s troubled deep south or of groups opposed to the current military-installed government after a junta ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on September 19.

Political analysts were more inclined to blame the bombs on disgruntled supporters of Thaksin than on Muslim militants, arguing that the coordinated attacks were beyond the operational capacity of the southern separatists who have in the past limited their activities to Thailand’s three southernmost provinces.

Panithan Wathanayakorn, a political scientist at Bangkok’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University and a leading expert on the deep South, said that setting off bombs in Bangkok would mark a major shift in the separatists’ strategy.

Until now, despite three years of carnage that have left 1,900 people dead, the southern terrorists have made few attempts to operate outside their three Muslim-majority provinces next to the border with Malaysia.

Panithan said a second possibility was that the attacks were the handiwork of political opponents of the current “interim” government, put in place by the Thai military after to toppled Thaksin, a billionaire businessman whose populist policies and autocratic rule has sharply divided Thailand.

Thaksin, who held the premiership between 2001 and 2006, is in exile and is reportedly seeking to return to Thailand to fight several court cases against family members and his political associates.

Thus far the military and Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont have blocked his return, arguing that it would further destabilize the political situation. Thaksin’s family fortune is estimated at 2 to 3 billion dollars, giving him considerable clout in Thailand where “money politics” tends to rule.

*Bron: Bangkok Post / www.bangkokpost.com *