A bomb exploded in Bangkok early today, seriously wounding a man and stoking fears of civil unrest following a deadly blast five days ago and violent anti-government protests in April and May.
Police said a grenade tied with an oiled rubber band and wrapped in a garbage bag exploded at about 2am in an alley near Victory Monument, an area usually choked with traffic and surrounded by government buildings.
"I do not want to speculate on the cause at this point and whether it's politically motivated or an attempt to stir chaos," said Metropolitan Police Chief Lt Gen Santarn Chayanond.
The wounded man was believed to be a bin collector, he said.
No group took responsibility for the attack which followed a blast that killed one person and wounded 10 on Sunday in a shopping district occupied by tens of thousands of 'red shirt' protesters for seven weeks until a May 19th army crackdown.
That bomb exploded shortly after polls closed in a Bangkok by-election in which a ruling party politician narrowly defeated a jailed red shirt anti-government protest leader representing the opposition.
Mr Santarn declined to comment on whether the two bombing incidents were related.
Thailand's government lifted a state of emergency in six provinces yesterday, but said the special security law would remain in place in 10 others, including Bangkok.
The emergency decree has been in force since April, giving security forces broad powers to deal with anti-government protests which spiralled into the worst political violence in modern Thai history when demonstrators clashed with troops in April and May, leaving 90 people dead and at least 1,800 wounded.
Citing intelligence reports, security officials have warned of continued attempts to create unrest in the capital and certain provinces as reason for prolonged use of the decree, despite pressure from rights groups and businesses to revoke it.
Thailand's five-year crisis has since eased, but analysts say little has been done to reconcile the differences of the powerful groups involved and say more rounds of confrontation are inevitable in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.
No one took responsibility for Sunday's attack and the government has not implicated any group. It has denied allegations it staged the attack to justify emergency rule, used to detain hundreds of 'red shirt' protesters.
The state of emergency bans political gatherings of more than five people and gives the government powers to impose curfew and censor media and detain suspects without charge for 30 days.
Voters in the north and northeast, hotbeds of anti-government activists, broadly support former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is wanted on terror charges for his alleged role in orchestrating the May riots.
Reuters