Bangkok – Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda says the bombings in Bankgok on Friday were connected with individuals in seven southern provinces and assured the public that the police will keep the situation under control.
Starting early in the morning, the bombings took place at five spots in the Thai capital. A bomb went off in Soi Rama IX 57/1 in Suan Luang district. Two blasts occurred in a small garden in front of Building B in the compound of the Government Center in the Chaeng Wattana area. Two bombs exploded in front of the entry to the Thai Armed Forces headquarters and another blast occurred at the Airport Rail Link’s Hua Mark station. Five or six bombs were found elsewhere and fires separately broke out at shops in the Pratunam area.
Pol Gen Chakthip said the Bangkok bombings were believed to be correlated, except for the one in the Rama IX area. Motives for the bombings are yet to be found but the police suspect the incidents were perpetrated by the same group of persons as those active in the seven upper southern provinces in 2016. The perpetrators could also be new activists without criminal records.
The suspects are believed to have laid out plans and checked out the areas before they planted the bombs. The police chief said he was not unduly worried as more violent incidents had occurred previously and the suspects had soon been arrested. He gave assurances to the public that the police could keep the situation under control, though ill-intentioned persons might say the authorities had failed to do so.
Erawan Emergency Medical Service Center reported that two persons were injured in the bombing in Soi Rama IX 57/1 and are being treated at Sirindhorn Hospital. They are Suan Luang district road cleaners, identified as Ms Kritsana Phongsaisee, 46, and Mrs Sunthorn Rodsianglam, 55, who was injured in the eye and eardrum. A man was injured by the blast at BTS Chong Nonsi station and is being treated at Vibharam Hospital.
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