BANGKOK: Several small bombs exploded across Bangkok on Friday, rattlingthe Thai capital as it hosted a regional summit attended by US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo and leaving four people wounded but not disrupting thediplomatic event.
Thailand, which has a grim history of political violence, remains deeplydivided after a controversial March election returned a junta to power as acivilian government.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who led the junta, blamed the bombs on”ill-intended people inciting violence” to “destroy peace and the country´simage”, while top Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) diplomatsand their US and Chinese counterparts are in town.
Small devices — believed to be so-called “ping pong bombs” around the sizeof a table tennis ball — exploded at several locations across the city,none close to the summit venue.
Urging the public not to panic, Prayut said security had been tightenedacross the capital.
The blasts appeared to be symbolic attacks aimed at embarrassing thegovernment during the major summit but not designed to cause masscasualties.
“Three people received slight injuries from shrapnel,” said RenuSuesattaya, director of Suanluang district where the first bombs werereported.
“I received a report that they are ´ping pong bombs´ hidden in bushes bythe road.”
An emergency service hotline later said a fourth person had beenhospitalised.
Two further explosions shattered glass near a well-known downtownskyscraper, emergency police added.
Bomb disposal experts were deployed around the Mahanakorn Tower — owned bythe King Power group that counts Leicester City football club among itsassets.´Democratic fold´
The bombings took place just before a keynote speech by America´s topdiplomat Pompeo, in which he praised Thailand for rejoining the “democraticfold” after five years of outright junta rule.
Thailand´s government urged the media to avoid speculation on the motivefor the bombings.
Read Top Stories
“We do not know yet how many people are involved,” deputy prime ministerPrawit Wongsuwon told reporters.
The blasts come weeks after former junta leader Prayut was inaugurated as acivilian prime minister, sparking outcry among many pro-democracysupporters in a kingdom scored by divisions.
The junta maneuvered itself back into power with the help of a fullyappointed senate stacked with army loyalists and an electoral system itscritics say was designed to limit the success of the pro-democracy parties.
A slew of court cases since then targeting an emergent anti-military grouphave rankled government critics, especially younger voters.
The older “Red Shirt” pro-democracy group has also reacted with outrage tothe election, but has so far remained off the streets with the armyseemingly in an unassailable position.
Mass protests, coups and short-lived governments have defined Thailand´srecent history, which is peppered with deadly bombings and shootings linkedto politics, often by shadowy forces that are never held accountable fortheir crimes.
Thailand´s last hosting of ASEAN in 2009 was also overshadowed by unrest.
Then, “Red Shirt” protesters smashed their way into the summit venue in theresort city of Pattaya demanding elections.
Pandemonium ensued, with a number of leaders having to be rescued from ahotel roof by Thai army helicopters while others fled by boat.
Thailand is also fighting a long-running insurgency in its Muslim-majoritysouthernmost provinces, which occasionally spreads outside the conflictarea.
Paul Chambers, a political analyst at Naresuan University, said regardlessof who the perpetrators are “they are trying to delegitimise, discredit anddestabilise the Thailand summit and embarrass Thailand as hosts.” -APP/AFP
