Thailand opnieuw toneel van aanslagen

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BREAKING NEWS:

THAAISE MEDIA MELDEN ZEKER VIER BOMEXPLOSIES IN HET CENTRUM VAN BANGKOK, SLECHTS UREN VOOR MIDDERNACHT. VOLGENS EEN LOKALE KRANT ZIJN ER ZEKER TIENTALLEN GEWONDEN OP EEN VAN DE GETROFFEN PLAATSEN.

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BANGKOK - In de Thaise hoofdstad Bangkok zijn op oudejaarsavond vrijwel gelijktijdig negen kleine bommen ontploft. Twee mensen kwamen om het leven en ten minste twintig mensen raakten gewond, aldus de krant The Nation. De explosies vonden plaats terwijl de stad zich voorbereidde op de jaarwisseling.

Explosieven gingen binnen een uur af, onder meer bij een bushalte, in een vuilnisbak op een markt en bij een politiepost. Vooral bij de bushalte vielen veel slachtoffers.

De aanslagen zijn nog niet opgeëist. Mogelijk hebben zij te maken met de opstand in de drie moslimprovincies in het diepe zuiden van het land.

Militanten uit het gebied hebben eerder gelijktijdige aanslagen uitgevoerd, maar die bleven steeds beperkt tot de streek aan de grens met Maleisië. De strijd voor zelfstandigheid in de provincies waar de meerderheid van de bevolking een Maleisisch dialect spreekt, heeft sinds januari 2004 meer dan 1800 levens geëist.

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BANGKOK, Thailand — Nine bombs exploded across Bangkok as the Thai capital celebrated the New Year, killing three people and driving thousands of revelers home after the city was forced to cancel festivities.

Hospital staff and officials said 38 people were injured, at least nine of them foreigners.

There were two waves of bombings. Some initially mistook the sound of the bombs for fireworks.

Bangkok Mayor Apirak Kosayothin canceled major public celebrations and sent home about 5,000 gathered in Central World Plaza, the downtown venue for Bangkok's main New Year countdown party.

After midnight, three more bombs went off near the same plaza, iTV television reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, which capped a year of unrest in Thailand that included a military coup three months ago and a mounting Muslim insurgency in its southernmost provinces.

National police chief Gen. Ajirawit Suphanaphesat said he did not believe insurgents were behind the attacks in Bangkok, a major international banking and technology hub for Asia.

Police and army troops wielding assault rifles guarded some entertainment venues, transit stations and busy traffic circles. Roadblocks were up on some streets, while hotels stepped up security, searching cars and canceling expensive New Year's Eve dinners.

Major public celebrations were also canceled in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

But festivities continued in some areas of Bangkok, including the city's most famous red light district, Patpong Road, where hundreds of foreign tourists carried on celebrating. At midnight, fireworks lit up the sky in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, with many residents still gathered in the streets of both cities.

Several embassies' Web sites advised their citizens to avoid Bangkok's city center.

"There is a possibility of further attacks in coming days," said a travel advisory from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "Australians are urged to avoid unnecessary travel in Bangkok."

Bomb attacks are rare in the Thai capital.

Following the first wave of bombings, police said two people died at hospitals. There were also 14 people seriously wounded, said Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla.

"I heard a loud explosion and I thought it was fireworks. I ran there and saw a bleeding woman at the bus stop," Somrak Manphothong, a receptionist at the Saxophone bar near site of the first bombings. "Another guy was lying on the floor, covered with blood, and his wife was shaking his body."

A 26-year-old Thai man later died after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel from his lung, Suphanaphesat said.

At another site near a vegetable market in the Klong Toey slum, a pool of blood and egg yolks covered the roadside beside an overturned motorcycle.

The three bombs that exploded just after midnight Monday were in a phone booth, a hotel, and near a canal bridge in a touristy downtown area packed with hotels and shopping malls.

Among the foreigners injured, doctors were trying to save a Hungarian woman's badly injured leg, said hospital spokeswoman Warin Detkung, denying earlier news reports that both her legs had been blown off.

In September, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a bloodless coup by Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin. The military installed Surayud Chulanont as the interim prime minister until elections in October 2007.

Bronnen: CNN/Fox/Nu.Nl
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Op zondag 31 december 2006 13:27 schreef Echo99 het volgende:
Vuurwerk

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Seven Bombs Rock Bangkok, Kill two

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Op zondag 31 december 2006 14:11 schreef moussie het volgende:
hmz, na wat er van de week is gebeurd op de filipijnen was dat idee dat het vuurwerk zou kunnen zijn zo gek nog niet .. maar ja, dat is het dus in dit geval niet ..
het schijnt hoofdzakelijk te gaan om bommen/handgranaten die gegooid worden naar "police-boxes", wat dan dan ook mogen zijn .. bewakingshokjes oid neem ik aan ?
http://www.nationmultimed(...)adlines_30022985.php