January 05, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 14, 1427

BANGKOK, Jan 4: Forensic tests show the New Year’s eve bombs that killed three people in Bangkok were not of the same type as those used by Muslim separatists fighting in southern Thailand, the prime minister said on Thursday.

“Forensics tests found that the bombs were similar to those used in the south, but I can reassure you that they are not exactly the same,” army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont told parliament.

“That is why we have concluded that the bombings had nothing to do with the south, and rather that the ill-intentioned perpetrators are in Bangkok,” he said.

Surayud said Bangkok’s major transport centres would remain under heightened surveillance to prevent further attacks, but warned Thais should brace themselves for new threats.

“The public should be prepared to deal with this new kind of threat to our lives in the future,” he said.

After eight small bombs caused chaos in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve, suspicions fell on Islamic rebels fighting for autonomy in Muslim-majority provinces of southern Thailand.

But the military-backed government, installed after a September coup, has insisted that the blasts were staged by politicians who lost power in the putsch.

Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied any involvement in the blasts.

Dozens of bomb hoaxes and false alarms over the last four days have tested nerves in Bangkok, and prompted police to warn that prank callers reporting bomb hoaxes could face jail time.

Surayud said that in addition to the three killed, a total of 42 people were injured, including nine foreign tourists.—AFP