Police check new bomb threats in Bangkok and suburb

Bomb threats made on Wednesday against two schools in the Thai capital of Bangkok and its suburban province Nonthaburi turned out to be hoaxes.

According to the Thai News Agency, police responding to the emergency calls on bomb threats found no explosives at the two schools.

The bomb threats came on the first working day after the New Year holidays and three days after two waves of coordinated bombings rocked Bangkok and Nonthaburi early Sunday night and later around midnight, as people were indulged in festivities to celebrate the coming of the New Year 2007.

About 1,000 students and teachers at the Kingphet School in central Bangkok, were evacuated at Wednesday noon immediately after a mysterious man called in twice, threatening to detonate a bomb at the school.

Bangkok Deputy Governor Phutthiphong Punnakan and a squad of policemen rushed to the school but detected no bomb.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will step up security at the 435 schools in Bangkok until the situation is back to normal.

Schools are told to strictly ban unrelated people from entering the school compounds to prevent possible bomb attacks.

Wat Khemaphirataram School in Nonthaburi also received a telephone bomb threat on Wednesday and released students to home.

Nonthaburi governor Cherdwit Ritthiprasart and police with sniffer dogs found no explosive materials at school.

Police believed that the fake bomb threats were the work of people who wanted to instigate chaos.

Local media group The Nation also reported a telephoned bomb threat against its building in Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon, quoting the caller as saying that he has planted three bombs in the building to cause property damage.

The caller reportedly said he did so because The Nation produced biased reports against ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Police found no explosives in the building.

A check was undergoing at a department store in downtown Bangkok after it reported a telephone bomb threat.

Thai authorities are still investigating the New Year's Eve bombings, which killed three persons and injuring 38 others. Suspicion has mostly fallen on ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his supporters, or insurgent militants who were blamed for almost daily deadly violence in Thailand's three southernmost provinces.

Surayud Chulanont, military-installed prime minister of the interim government after the Sept. 19 coup which toppled Thaksin's administration, said on Monday that the Sunday bombings were the work of "people who lost political interests", largely interpreted by local media as Thaksin and his allies.

However, Thaksin, who remains abroad, quickly denied his involvement through his spokesman.

Several fake bomb threats or false bomb alarms have been reported in Bangkok in the wake of the Sunday night bombings, which caused confusion in public.

People have been told to inform authorities immediately after they find any suspicious packages.

According to National Police Office, more than 1,000 people have reported that they found suspicious objects on Wednesday alone, but none of them have proved real so far, the Bangkok Post said.

Source: Xinhua