Police: Fatal bombing was political
A bomb in central Bangkok that killed one person and wounded 10 on Sunday evening was designed to create disorder for political gain, police said Monday.
The blast came two months after the red-shirt protests rocked the city and hours after polls closed in a crucial Bangkok by-election.
Unofficial results showed a clear victory for the government Democrat Party candidate and a resounding defeat for jailed red-shirt core member Korkaew Pikulthong, who was the opposition Puea Thai Party's candidate.
The bomb exploded at a bus stop in Ratchaprasong, in the commecial district occupied by the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) during their two-month-long mass rally, which ended with an army crackdown on May 19.
National police adviser Panupong Singhara Na Ayutthaya said they were examining CCTV images of a man who may be a suspect, adding that the culprits likely aimed "to create disorder for political gain".
Pol Gen Panupong said an M67 grenade was used in the attack on Ratchadamri road, near the huge CentralWorld shopping complex gutting by arsonists at the end of the protest. The explosive was triggered by a timer.
The explosion came after the close of the polls in the by-election in Bangkok's constituency 6 -- seen as a litmus test of public opinion following the civil unrest. The failed opposition candidate is being held on terrorist charges related to the violence during the protest.
Initial Election Commission results showed opposition Puea Thai candidate Korkaew Pikulthong, who was not allowed out of jail to campaign, was beaten by ruling Democrat Party candidate Panich Vikitsreth.
Puea Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit accused government supporters of setting off the bomb, which shattered an uneasy calm in the capital since the army crushed the UDD's mass protests.
"I believe the bomb came from a group who support the government and want emergency rule to be continued," Mr Prompong said.
"This group wants political gain from maintaining emergency rule, while many people want the state of emergency to be revoked," he added.
Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the continued use of the emergency decree in certain provinces was still imperative.
"The bombing on Bangkok's Ratchadamri road shows that the security situation is not yet normal," Mr Panitan said.
He said the attack was aimed at inciting unrest.
"The state of emergency will help officials track down and arrest the people responsible for the attack," he added.
One person was killed and eight other people were injured by the explosion. Six of the injured victims have since left hospital.
The state of emergency is still in force in Bangkok and 15 other provinces.
The government has come under pressure from the United States and rights groups to end a state of emergency still in place across one-fifth of the country.
Authorities have used the powers -- introduced in Bangkok on April 7 -- to arrest hundreds of red-shirt suspects and silence anti-government media.
The protests by the UDD supporters, many of whom back fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, attracted up to 100,000 people demanding immediate elections.
Eighty-nine people died, including some soldiers, and about 1,900 were injured in a series of street clashes between troops and demonstrators.
Källa: Bankok Post
