Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Bombs at luxury mall rattle tense Bangkok

Published 02/01/2015, 03:05 PM
Updated 02/01/2015, 03:05 PM
© Reuters. Man talks on the phone near the site of blasts on an elevated walkway linking an overhead rail line to the Siam Paragon mall in central Bangkok

© Reuters. Man talks on the phone near the site of blasts on an elevated walkway linking an overhead rail line to the Siam Paragon mall in central Bangkok

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Two pipe bombs exploded outside a luxury shopping mall in Bangkok on Sunday in an attack which Thai police said was aimed at raising tension in a city living under martial law.

The bombs caused little damage but were the first to shake the Thai capital since the military seized power in May to end months of sometimes deadly street protests.

"There were improvised explosive devices detonated by a digital clock," said Police Lieutenant General Prawut Thawonrsiri, a spokesman for the Royal Thai Police.

The motive behind the attack appeared to be to create panic rather than take lives, Prawut said. The police have yet to identify the bombers, he added.

Two improvised explosive devices were placed behind power transformers on an elevated walkway linking the overhead rail line to the upmarket Siam Paragon mall in central Bangkok, police said.

Political tension in Thailand has been high since a national assembly hand-picked by the junta last month banned former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from politics for five years.

The same day, the country's Attorney General said she would face charges and a possible jail sentence for negligence.

The decisions angered supporters of Yingluck and her exiled brother Thaksin, although there has been little sign of a return to the street protests that have dogged Thailand for the past ten years. Military repression has snuffed out dissent since the coup.

The junta last week summoned senior politicians critical of the government's handling of Yingluck's cases for a dressing down.

Ten years of turbulent politics in Thailand have pitted Yingluck and Thaksin, himself a former prime minister, and their rural support base against the Bangkok royalist-military establishment that sees the Shinawatras as a threat and reviles their populist policies.

This was the first bomb in the Thai capital since before the coup, Army Lieutenant General Kampanart Ruddit told reporters.

Sporadic violence during the six months of street protests that preceded the May 22 coup claimed almost 30 lives, with scores more injured.

© Reuters. Man talks on the phone near the site of blasts on an elevated walkway linking an overhead rail line to the Siam Paragon mall in central Bangkok

The explosions on Sunday showed that martial law could not yet be lifted, said Kampanart, who is responsible for the Bangkok area.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.