DHAKA: Two anti-government protesters have been killed and 22 others injured in an attack in the Thai capital, Bangkok, police say.

Witnesses reported explosions and gunfire at a protest camp at the city's Democracy Monument.

Protesters have been pressing the Senate to replace the cabinet with an appointed administration.

It comes after former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by a Thai court last week.

Thailand has suffered months of deadlock since the protest campaign began in November, with at least 27 people killed and hundreds wounded.

Both pro- and anti-government groups have held rallies in Bangkok, raising fears of further violence.

Reports said grenades were thrown in the latest attack early on Thursday, followed by gunfire. A doctor at an emergency centre in Bangkok said the wounded had been hit by shrapnel.

"The first victim was a protester who was sleeping at Democracy Monument, while the second was a protest guard who died from gunshots," police Major Wallop Prathummuang told an international news agency.

There have been a number of attacks on the protest movement since it began its street campaign against the government last year, says the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, but this was on a larger scale than usual.

No group has said it carried out the attack but both pro- and anti-government groups are known to have armed hardliners, reports the BBC.

BDST: 0928 HRS, MAY 15, 2014