BANGKOK: Two pipe bombs exploded outside a lu­x­ury shopping mall in Bangkok on Sunday in an attack which Thai police said was aimed at raising tension in a city living under martial law.

The bombs caused little damage but were the first to shake the Thai capital since the military seized power in May to end months of sometimes deadly street protests.

“There were improvised explosive devices detonated by a digital clock,” said Police Lieutenant General Pr­awut Thawo­nrsiri, a spokesman for the Royal Th­ai Police.

The motive behind the attack appeared to be to create panic rather than take lives, Prawut said. The police have yet to identify the bombers, he added.

Two improvised explosive devices were placed behind power transformers on an elevated walkway linking the overhead rail line to the upmarket Siam Paragon mall in central Bangkok, police said. Political tension in Thailand has been high since a national assembly hand-picked by the junta last month banned former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinaw­atra from politics for five years.

The same day, the country’s Attorney General said she would face charges and a possible jail sentence for negligence. The decisions angered supporters of Yingluck and her exiled brother Thaksin, although there has been little sign of a return to the street protests that have dogged Thailand for the past ten years.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2015

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