Bomb Suspect Hurt as 3 Blasts Hit Bangkok, Barak Blames Iran, Hizbullah
A string of blasts rattled Bangkok on Tuesday, seriously wounding a man believed to be Iranian when an explosive device he was carrying detonated in a residential area of the Thai capital.
The city has been on edge since the United States last month warned of a threat of a terrorist strike on Bangkok's tourist areas, but it was unclear whether there was any link.
Bomb squad investigators rushed to the scene after three men were seen fleeing after a blast at a house in the Sukhumvit Road area in the east of Bangkok.
One of the men hurled an explosive device at a taxi which refused to stop and later tried to throw another device at police, triggering a blast on the side of a busy road which tore off his legs, authorities said.
"An Iranian ID was found with the injured man so it's likely that he's an Iranian national," Major General Pisit Pisuthisak, deputy commander of Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told Agence France Presse by telephone from the scene.
"A police forensics team is examining the house," he added.
Police later used a high pressure water cannon to defuse another device found inside the building.
The injured man was admitted to a Bangkok hospital where he was receiving emergency treatment.
Authorities later said they had detained an Iranian man at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport for questioning but it was not immediately clear if he was one of the two other suspects, whose motives were unclear.
Police were searching for the third man.
Later on Tuesday, Israel's defense minister accused Iran of being behind the bombings.
Ehud Barak said the explosions "prove once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror."
He slammed Iran and its Lebanese ally Hizbullah as "unrelenting terror elements endangering the stability of the region and endangering the stability of the world."
Barak spoke during an official visit in Singapore. A statement issued by the Israeli defense ministry noted that Barak was in Bangkok on Sunday.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people not to "jump to conclusions" about the circumstances behind the blasts.
"Let the police and intelligence agencies do their work and the public must not panic because the perpetrator was detained," she told reporters during a visit to northeast Thailand.
Last month Thai police charged a Lebanese suspected of planning an attack in Bangkok after they raided a property and discovered chemicals that could be used to make a bomb.
Thai authorities alleged the Lebanese man had links to Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
Tuesday's blasts came a day after bombs targeted Israeli interests in India and Georgia, injuring a diplomat and her driver in New Delhi, in attacks that Israel accused Iran of masterminding.
In recent weeks security has been stepped up around possible targets in Bangkok, including the Israeli embassy and the Khao San Road backpacker district.
Britain on Tuesday warned its citizens to be on guard following the latest incident.
"You should remain vigilant, follow the advice of Thai authorities and monitor the local news," the British embassy said in a message on its website.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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