BANGKOK – Three cleaning works were injured yesterday by homemade bombs that were hidden inside a garbage bag in a suburb of Bangkok.
According to police, the three workers were collecting bags of trash on Soi Sukhumvit 101/1 in Bang Na district when they noticed a plastic bag filled with four round-shaped objects wrapped in black duct tape.
One of the workers reportedly unwrapped the bag and the objects immediately exploded in his hands.
The three wounded victims are employees of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s city cleaning department. Police identified them as Amphon Saebe, 47; Goon Chiangchai, 44; and Surat Sitthipanya, 21.
Police officers soon cordoned off the area and found two more homemade bombs in the bags. Police identified the explosives as “ping pong bombs,” which are commonly used by teenage gangs in Thailand.
Phanit Ngamthaweewiwan, a resident who lives close to where the explosives were found, said there was a brawl between two gangs in her neighborhood on the evening of 13 April.
“I don’t know if it’s related to the bombs,” Phanit said.
Pol.Maj.Gen. Nipon Charoenphol, deputy commander of Bangkok police, told reporters it is highly likely that members of a local gang dumped the bombs in the garbage bag following a gang fight to get rid of the evidence.
“We are checking CCTV footage in the area and collecting witnesses’ testimonies to identify the perpetrators,” Pol.Maj.Gen. Nipon said, adding that the bombs appeared to be made from rocks and gunpowder bounded together by a duct tape.
Pol.Col. Kamthorn Uicharoen, an officer of the police EOD team, said the bombs are not related to other recent bomb attacks in Bangkok, such as the twin bombing of Siam Paragon shopping mall on 1 February 2015, which police believe were politically motivated.
“These bombs are found among polytechnic students. It’s not related to attempts to cause unrest, because in those cases the perpetrators used explosives that are more damaging,” Po.Col. Kamthorn said.
Police say security officers searched a house in Soi Sukhumvit 101/1 that was identified by locals as a place where gang members often meet up. The search turned up one homemade handgun, seven swords, and one wooden stick, though there is no evidence that linked the home owner to the blasts, police said.
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