BLAST AT THAI HOSPITAL; 25 HURT
BANGKOK: A bomb exploded at a military-run hospital in Bangkok on Monday, the third anniversary of a military coup, and police said 25 people were wounded.
Investigators found remnants of batteries and wires at the scene of the blast on the ground floor of Phramongkutklao Hospital, said Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, the deputy national police chief.
“We can confirm at this stage that it is a bomb,” he said.
Three people suffered serious shrapnel injuries to the face and neck, but most of the victims had minor wounds, said Sansern Kaewkumnerd, a government spokesman.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion or if it was connected to the anniversary of the 2014 military coup that overthrew a democratically elected government. “Please don’t connect this with any other incidents because they may or may not be connected,” Sansern said. “We have to wait for officials to investigate details from surveillance cameras in the area.”
Phramongkutklao is a military-run hospital that is also open to civilians. The blast radius from the explo-
It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion or if it was connected to the 2014 military coup
sion was 2 to 3 meters (up to 9 feet), police said. Since the 2014 coup, at least six explosions have occurred in Bangkok. Last Monday, a bomb went off in front of thecountry’s National Theater.
Last month, a similar explosion took place in front of an old government lottery office. A blast on August 17, 2015, that killed about 20 people near a popular Hindu shrine.