Thailand, March 27: Two soldiers were injured when a grenade was thrown at an army-run television station in Thailand, as protesters increased pressure on the Government.
The station, Channel 5, showed footage of the two soldiers with bleeding leg wounds being lifted into a pick-up truck and taken to hospital.
“An M-79 grenade was launched from the road in front of Channel 5 but the bomb hit a net above the fence before falling and exploding on the pavement,” police operations command spokesman Prawut Thavorsiri said yesterday.
Thailand’s customs department compound was rocked by an explosion earlier in the day as street tens of thousands of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra prepared to take to the streets.
The blast shattered windows and damaged a van parked nearby, but caused no injuries.
“The bomb went off at 3:45am, we still don’t know type of bomb it was, we will have to wait for a forensic examination,” a district police officer said.
The blasts are the latest in a series of more than a dozen, mostly caused by grenades, that have been set off in Bangkok and surrounding areas since the rolling demonstrations began on March 14.
The red-shirted supporters, largely from poor northern areas, are pushing for fresh elections to displace a government which came to power with army backing in 2008, after a controversial court ruling removed Mr Thaksin’s allies.
—Agencies