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BANGKOK : Two people were killed and 36 injured, including nine foreigners, in a wave of mysterious bombings that forced Thailand to cancel its New Year celebrations, officials said on Monday.
Festivities were called off in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai after six explosions ripped across the capital within about an hour from 5:20 pm (1020 GMT), killing two and wounding more than 20.
Another two blasts exploded shortly before midnight near Central World Plaza where Bangkok's main celebrations were to have been staged, injuring 11 more people including nine Westerners.
The attacks capped a year of political turmoil in Bangkok and were the first violence since a September coup toppled the government of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
There was no indication who was responsible but police said they believed the bombings were linked to the political situation, although they bore the hallmarks of insurgents in Thailand's Muslim-majority south.
Separatist militants along the southern border with Malaysia often coordinate small bombings across the region, but have never attacked Bangkok.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who was installed after the coup, called an emergency meeting with senior military leaders and the interior minister.
"We believe some group has created the situation," government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said after the meeting, but said they needed more information and would hold another meeting Monday before drawing any conclusions.
The health ministry's information centre said that two men aged 36 and 61 had been killed in the first wave of attacks. At least 36 were injured, with at least 21 in hospital.
Two Britons, two Serbians, one American, and two Hungarians were among those hospitalised, while two other Hungarians were treated and released, according to medical officials.
Britain and the United States both urged their citizens to avoid travelling around the city.
"The bombs were to scare people during the New Year festival," national police spokesman Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj said.
Thousands of people had gathered at a plaza outside a shopping mall in central Bangkok to watch musicians and actors count down to 2007 before the bombings forced festivities to be cancelled.
The first blast hit downtown Sukhumvit Road, one of Bangkok's main arteries, at 5:20 PM (1020 GMT), and five more followed within about an hour.
The worst attack was at the Victory Monument in central Bangkok at 5:30 pm (1030 GMT), where at least 13 people were injured when a device exploded at a bus stop.
Other blasts hit two police traffic posts in the north of the city and a Chinese temple in downtown Bangkok, while another device went off behind a department store in an eastern suburb.
Then minutes before midnight, another bomb exploded in a telephone booth and along a canal near the plaza where New Year would have been celebrated.
Police spokesman Ajiravid said the bombs were triggered by a timer, and investigations had so far proved that four of the attacks were by the same group.
Coup leader and military chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin - currently out of the country - ordered the mobilisation of soldiers in Bangkok, his assistant General Anupong Paochinda said.
"Soldiers are around Bangkok, particularly in crowded areas," he said.
Surayud had warned earlier this week of possible large-scale attacks by Islamic militants during the New Year holidays.
However, that warning was for the nation's restive Muslim-majority south, where an ongoing insurgency has killed 1,700 people since January 2004.
An intelligence source told AFP that the attacks were likely politically motivated.
"The bombs are not involved with southern unrest... it is a political issue, it is undercurrents," the source said, but did not elaborate.
There has been relatively little public resistance to the recent coup, with small protests ignored by the ruling junta despite the fact that martial law remains in force three months after the putsch.
Former premier Thaksin was in New York when the military overthrew his twice-elected government. Since then, he has been living in self-imposed exile abroad and is currently staying in Beijing.
He has expressed a wish to come back to Thailand, but the military fear his return may galvanise support in his north and northeast stronghold and spark protests. - AFP/de
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