BANGKOK - Thailand's military-appointed Government is claiming backers of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra may have been involved in New Year bombings that killed three people in Bangkok.
Eight co-ordinated blasts also left 38 people, nine of them foreigners, injured and forced the cancellation of New Year's Eve
celebrations.
New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States issued travel warnings to their citizens in Bangkok to avoid moving about the city.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the bombs were in places popular with tourists and gave a warning that further attacks bombings could occur. More than 25,000 New Zealanders travel to Thailand each year.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said people who had lost power, including Thaksin supporters, might have been behind the blasts.
"Briefs from various intelligence agencies, based on evidence available, show that they came from groups that have lost political powers," Mr Surayud told a news conference. "These were not just the previous government, but include all those which have lost power in the past. We could not at this stage pinpoint which particular group was involved."
National police spokesman Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj said only that "the bombs were to scare people during the New Year festival".
Surayud Chulanont, who was installed by the military after its coup against Thaksin Shinawatra, summoned an emergency security meeting.
Thailand's junta leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, is out of the country.
The Nation newspaper said the wave of bombings could have been "an attempt to discredit the [post-coup] Government, an expanded campaign of terror from the deep south, or the most serious warning yet that the peace and harmony of this kingdom is facing its biggest and most menacing threat".
The paper said the attacks want "to aggravate our political turmoil".
Hours after the blasts, soldiers not seen since General Sonthi's September 19 coup returned to the streets to patrol key intersections.
- AGENCIES
