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Catastrophe

Several injured in Thai hospital blast

May 22, 2017

Thai authorities say a bomb has exploded at a hospital in the capital, Bangkok, wounding at least 21 people. The explosion hit on the third anniversary of a 2014 military coup.

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Thailand Explosion in einer Klinik in Bangkok
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Lalit

Thai police said on Monday that a bomb blast has injured 21 people at a hospital in Bangkok that is popular with retired military officers. Local media spoke of mostly "slight" injuries.

"It was a bomb. We found the pieces that were used to make the bomb," Kamthorn Aucharoen, commander of the police's explosive ordnance team, told Reuters news agency. "Right now, authorities are checking out closed circuit cameras."

Thailand Explosion in einer Klinik in Bangkok
Traces of batteries and wire were found at the sceneImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Lalit

Earlier reports had spoken of the explosion at the Phramongkutklao Hospital as being possibly caused by a gas leak or an explosion of an air-conditioning compressor.

Local media said the device went off in the hospital pharmacy, and that all those injured had received treatment.

Frequent political unrest

A hospital official, Lt. Gen. Saroj Kiewkajee, said one person was severely injured, while 13 had been discharged soon after the explosion.

Earlier reports had put the casualty toll at 24 or 25.

Monday's incident occurred as Thailand marked the three-year anniversary of the May 22, 2014, coup that brought the current junta to power. The military government has promised general elections in the politically unstable country in late 2018.

 It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast. However, small bombs have been used several times in the past by a range of political and militant groups, often coinciding with major anniversaries.

The most serious bomb attack since the 2014 coup killed some 20 people near a popular Hindu shrine in the capital in August 2015.
Read: Little hope for Thailand's democracy

 tj/rt (Reuters, AP)