Ref:asiancorrespondent.com
(update: Oct. 12 2010 - 07:17 pm)
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But who's setting them off remains a mystery, writes Asia Sentinel's Richard S. Ehrlich
At least 71 bombs have exploded this year in Bangkok in the wake of the failed Red Shirt revolution of April and May, causing random damage, injuries and a handful of deaths and an increasingly worried and frustrated citizenry.
During September, successful and failed bombings have targeted a school, a shopping mall's car park, the Public Health Ministry's parking lot, the Royal Turf Club, a ruling politician's office, and public sidewalks. The scattered timing and locations of the blasts have people baffled.
The bombings have averaged about two a week in a city now gripped by political polarization after the Red Shirts' failed insurrection. Another 43 explosive devices have been defused, police say. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other officials recently issued what sounded like a macabre weather report -- bleakly warning that more bomb attacks would occur in October but may taper off in November.
"If the conflict is not resolved, it is likely that more bombs will be used in attacks, especially IEDs (improvised explosive devices) because they are easily assembled," warned Explosive Ordnance Disposal Police Lt. Col. Khamthorn Auicharoen.
Security officials blame frustrated pro-democracy Red Shirt revolutionaries for what they characterize as bloody revenge assaults after the military crushed the Reds' nine-week insurrection last spring, leaving 91 people dead -- mostly civilians -- and more than 1,500 injured. However, some critics blame police and military officials themselves, especially after the disappearance of considerable amounts of explosives and weapons from presumably well-guarded armories. Bombings have included 40-mm, M-67, M-26, MK-2, RGD-5 and rocket-propelled grenades, police said.
"Do not seek to destroy the army, even if you have failed to secure a promotion," Army Chief Prayuth Chan-ocha told Thailand's splintered, poorly disciplined military earlier this month.
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