PHONE BOOTH BOMB / FRESH PRECAUTIONS

Police patrols doubled after blast

POST REPORTERS

Police have doubled their patrols in Bangkok in the lead-up to the Songkran festival this weekend, and are looking for the motive behind a low-power bomb blast on Phahon Yothin road late on Monday night. Pol Lt-Gen Adisorn Nonsee, chief of the Metropolitan Police, said he had increased the number of police on field duty from 1,500 to 3,000 and also put another 1,000 on standby in case of emergency. Detectives from all Bangkok police divisions were ordered to intensify their intelligence gathering, he added.

The order followed an explosion in one of three public telephone booths located in front of the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin, near the Ratchayothin intersection, about 11.15pm on Monday. There were no casualties.

Police believed the bomb was made with gunpowder stuffed in a 1.25-litre plastic bottle. Planted in the middle phone booth, the bomb was triggered by an alarm clock powered by three AA batteries. No shrapnel were found.

The bomb was similar to the ones which went off in front of the residence of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda and the office of the Manager media group in Bangkok last year, police said.

The three phone booths are located some 50 metres from the front of the cinema complex. The area is practically deserted late at night.

Pol Lt-Gen Adisorn said the bomber probably aimed to create an atmosphere of instability in the country, rather than to take lives. The bombing could be the work of someone with a grudge against the owner of the cinema complex or against local traffic police, or with the intention of creating public disturbances.

''I can confirm that this incident is not related to the New Year's Eve bombings because the explosives used were different. The New Year bombs were high-powered and included lethal shrapnel, but this one was not,'' Pol Lt-Gen Adisorn said.

Damrongchai Pongpanich, deputy manager of the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin, rejected the possibility that the blast might be the work of someone with a grudge against the cineplex.

Acting national police chief Seripisuth Temiyavej said the bombing was only aimed at making a loud noise and was not the work of an expert.

He saw no links between the Monday night's blast and the New Year bombings, saying they differed in terms of methods of working, materials used and objectives.

Pol Gen Seripisuth added that security was not his biggest concern duing the Songkran holiday. He was more concerned about expected high fatalities from road accidents during the long holiday period.

A government source quoted assistant army chief Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr as saying there were intelligence reports about possible bomb plots during the Songkran holiday.

First Army chief Lt-Gen Prayut Chan-ocha ruled out invoking the executive decree on emergency situations in the wake of the Monday night's bombing.

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsang Niampradit urged the public to remain calm, saying the bombing was only aimed at creating public disturbances.

Prakit Prachonpachanuk, secretary-general of the National Security Council, denied the blast had anything to do with the southern insurgency.

Both Mr Prakit and Interior Minister Aree Wongarya agreed intelligence work should be intensified in Bangkok and other major cities during Songkran.

Anawat Ongvasith, an executive of Major Cineplex Group Plc, said more security cameras would be installed to cover areas outside the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin, one of the nine locations hit by the New Year bombs.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Wednesday April 11, 2007