The terrifying bomb blast on Ratchadamri Road on Sunday, which killed one person and injured 10, has shattered hopes for lifting the emergency decree in the capital.

The government is facing growing calls from human rights activists, the opposition Puea Thai Party and the tourism sector to lift the decree, which has severely damaged the country’s image and scared away tourists.

Even the National Reform Committee joined the chorus last Thursday. The panel, led by former prime minister Anand Panyarachun, pointed to the enforcement of the emergency decree, which is in effect in 16 provinces including Bangkok, as a factor which could hamper reconciliation efforts to heal national divisiveness.

But the blast near the bus stop in front of the Big C department store underlines the concerns of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) that the situation has not returned to normal in the capital and some provinces.

Instead of seeing the end of the decree in Bangkok, extra security measures will soon be deployed in public places such as shopping areas, inter-provincial bus stations and the subway under the recommendations of the CRES. The CRES will hold a meeting tomorrow to assess the situation in the wake of the bomb, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said.

Gen Prawit rejected a theory that the bomb was set off by government supporters to justify the extension of the emergency decree or even to expand it to other provinces.

“We never want to see this thing happen and use it to prevent the lifting of the emergency decree,” he said yesterday.

Puea Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit suspected supporters of the decree were behind the blast to give the administration the excuse to continue the emergency decree.

The explosion prompted Thepthai Senapong, the spokesman for Prime Minister and Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, to attack critics of the imposition of the emergency decree. “The old saying that there is a calm before the storm is still worth considering,” Mr Thepthai said.

He said the government has to take responsibility if violence erupted after the end of the emergency situation.

Democrat Panich Vikitsreth, who won the Constituency 6 by-election on Sunday, said he did not believe the explosion was linked to his victory just because his wife owns land in the area. It was a coincidence, he said.

A police team, made up mainly of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and Lumpini station led by Royal Thai Police adviser Panupong Singhara na Ayudhya, did not rule out politics as being behind the explosion. Another possible motive was simply to cause public chaos.

One clue is the way the bomb was wired. The wiring is similar to that used in two previous bomb attempts, on April 3 in the Nang Loeng area and May 14 in the Khok Khram area. The police bomb squad successfully defused the bombs on those occasions.

The M67 hand grenade was set to be triggered by an alarm clock. That pattern led police to rule out southern insurgents from their investigation.

The circuit configuration of the bomb on Sunday was different from what police had found in the southern provinces, Pol Gen Panupong said. He said there were few people in Thailand who possessed the skills to assemble a bomb of this nature.

Other clues came from images from security cameras installed at Big C, on Ratchadamri Road, Anoma Hotel Bangkok, the Isetan department store and the CentralWorld shopping centre.

Police reviewed footage taken two hours before the explosion. They have narrowed the search to a male suspect believed to have planted the bomb about 30 minutes before the blast. But police believe the suspect did not assemble the bomb.

The bomb, which exploded at 5.45pm on Sunday, killed Thawatchai Thongmak, 51. All but two injured in the blast were released from hospital yesterday.

News item courtesy of www.bangkokpost.com