BANGKOK: Police in Thailand defused three unexploded bombs discovered in Bangkok and surrounding suburbs over a matter of hours, one of them in front of a school and one in a shopping mall, they said Thursday.
The first device was found under a footbridge outside a school in central Bangkok on Wednesday morning, Major General Prawut Thavornsiri, the national police spokesman, told AFP.
On Wednesday night, two more, each weighing around five kilograms (11 pounds) were found at a shopping mall and in the public health ministry car park in nearby Nonthaburi province, he added.
The finds follow a series of grenade blasts in recent weeks across the Thai capital, which remains under emergency rule following deadly street clashes in April and May during anti-government protests.
On Friday Thailand put over 460 locations across Bangkok on high alert, sending thousands of police, soldiers and city officials onto the streets in a bid to increase the security presence around the clock.
Royal palaces, government buildings, power plants and public transport are receiving protection from the Centre for Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES), the body set up to monitor security in response to the unrest.
Suthep Thaugsuban, deputy prime minister in charge of national security, said he had instructed officials to tighten security again after the three devices were found on Wednesday.
"I have not yet got a detailed report. Officials are investigating but it`s quite difficult," he added.
He said a bomb hoax that emerged on the same day on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Los Angeles was not related to incidents in the city.
The capital is one of seven areas still under the emergency rule introduced on April 7 as a response to the "Red Shirt" rallies that later left 91 people dead and about 1,900 injured in clashes between protesters and the army.
Five bombings in recent weeks, leaving one dead and thirteen injured, have unnerved Bangkok residents still recovering from the unrest and have raised doubts over the speed at which emergency rule can be lifted in the capital.
The law bans public gatherings of over five people and gives security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge. Authorities have used the powers to arrest hundreds of suspects and silence anti-government media.
The protests by the Reds, many of whom back fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, attracted up to 100,000 people demanding immediate elections but were dispersed by an army crackdown on May 19.
After the crackdown, Red Shirt leaders asked their supporters to go home, but enraged protesters set fire to dozens of buildings, including a shopping mall and the stock exchange.
BDST 1129 HRS. SEP 09, 2010
