Guard injured in second grenade attack on King Power

The explosion was initially thought to be a bomb planted near a parking space, where the blast took place, in the compound off Soi Rangnam, but police ordnance personnel later found parts of a 40mm grenade at the scene. They later said it could have been fired from a location within the nearby Siam City Hotel, whose management remained silent over the police statement.

Jetsada Chankrajang was hit by a lot of shrapnel from the blast, including a piece lodged in his skull. He was in satisfactory condition after surgery that removed the shrapnel and treated many wounds.

King Power, whose management has close ties to Newin, was first attacked on July 30, when a time bomb hidden in a garbage pile went off and wounded a scavenger. Police are investigating the first attack.

Police have offered a Bt100,000 reward for information leading to arrest of the bomber or those behind the latest attack. A police source said a stranger, fidgeting and appearing tense, walked up to Jetsada and complained about "too many checkpoints" before walking away, not long before the blast occurred at 11pm.

Police apprehended the man, later found on a black Honda Click motorcycle without a licence plate, after he was seen riding around the scene twice, and reappeared 30 minutes after the blast. The unidentified suspect, still in police custody, had removed Surat Thani licence plate Khor Lor Kor 970 and hidden it under the seat.

The government's Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation said the bomb attack was motivated by the local election being held in Bangkok tomorrow. No details or evidence was supplied by the CRES to back up this theory.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ordered security to be further tightened, and said Bangkok would be the last province to see the state of emergency lifted as a result.

Pheu Thai MP Anudit Nakhonthap said the attack had something to do with the 2011 Budget Bill that was passed on Wednesday, with six Pheu Thai MPs voting for it against the party resolution, reportedly sanctioned by Newin.

He also came up with another reason - the Democrat-ruled Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's poor handling of flood prevention in the capital, which he said had left "many residents of the capital dissatisfied".

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