A bomb at a hospital in the Thai capital wounded 24 people on Monday, the third anniversary of a 2014 military coup, the government said, with the army chief blaming groups opposed to the junta.
There was no claim for the blast at the Phramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok, which is popular with soldiers and their families and retired military officers, Reuters reported.
“We found the pieces that were used to make the bomb,” Kamthorn Aucharoen, commander of the police’s explosive ordnance team, told reporters, adding it was not clear who was responsible.
“Right now, authorities are checking out closed circuit cameras.”
Government Spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said 24 people were wounded. Mostd were hit by flying glass, the military’s national security unit said.
Suspicion is likely to focus either on political dissidents opposed to military rule or separatists based in the south of the predominantly Buddhist country.
“It doesn’t have to be the junta anniversary. People who don’t like the junta, given the chance, will do this,” Chalermchai said in a televised interview, adding that troops in uniform and plainclothes security officers would be deployed to increase security.
Deputy national police chief, General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul, said the bomb had been hidden in a container near the entrance of a pharmacy.
The May 22, 2014, military coup toppled a democratically elected government and ended months of unrest, including sometimes deadly street demonstrations. The junta said it needed to take power to restore order and usher in political reforms.
Former prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, whose government was ejected in the 2014 coup, called for a swift return to democracy in a Facebook post on Monday, adding that the economy had been hit hard.
