Grenade blasts at the Public Health Ministry just half an hour after a cabinet meeting adjourned have sparked a war of words between the government and army on one side and the red shirts on the other.
The two grenade explosions yesterday afternoon prompted the army to add another 13,000 troops to the force securing the capital, with another 17,000 more put on standby.
Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the explosions in the parking lot of the ministry's Emergency Medical Institute were an attempt to expose lapses in the state's security measures.
The parking lot is 700 metres from a building where Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet were holding talks up until about 30 minutes before the explosions.
The army and police have deployed more than 34,500 officers to maintain law and order in Bangkok since March 12, when the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship launched its rally in support of calls for the government to dissolve the lower house and call new elections.
Sansern Kaewkamnerd, the spokesman for the army and the peace-keeping command, the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), said the grenade attack was aimed at discrediting the government.
Two travellers study a map to navigate their way along Rama V Road near Government House. Barricades and barbed wire fences have been erected on roads leading to Government House to prevent red shirts from disrupting meetings of the lower house over the next two days. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
"The intention is to discredit the government ..." he said.
"The general public feels the pressure. Innocent people are held hostage. The CAPO condemns those who are behind the incident."
He denied the government itself was behind the attack.
"It is not an act by government officials to create a situation. The culprit did not fire during the cabinet meeting because we had deployed soldiers outside. But there was an opportunity when we withdrew the forces."
Red shirt leader Natthawut Saikua accused the government of launching the grenade attacks to try to smear the UDD. He wondered why the grenades were fired after the cabinet meeting if the attackers were opponents of the government.
There was also an attempted grenade attack in Chiang Mai yesterday, but it failed to detonate.
The attacks came the day the government approved the extension of the Internal Security Act until next Tuesday.
Maj Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol, a supporter of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra widely known as Seh Daeng, denied he was behind the attacks at the ministry but warned of more attacks on government offices as they were the symbol of the amataya, or bureaucratic elite.
Hours after the attack at the ministry, the Internal Security Operations Command chaired by the prime minister held talks and agreed to boost the number of police and soldiers guarding Greater Bangkok to 47,000 during the extended period of ISA enforcement.
Soldiers have been entering Bangkok from Nakhon Ratchasima, Kanchanaburi and Prachin Buri, a source said. Isoc has also put 17,000 more soldiers and police on standby at their units.
The grenade blasts at the ministry damaged the windows and tyres of three cars along with the parking lot's roof. Police rushed to the scene to retrieve shrapnel and footage from closed circuit cameras along the nearby expressway for investigation.
A preliminary inquiry showed the grenades were fired from the expressway about 150 metres behind the ministry, said Pol Maj Gen Supakit Srichantranon, the Nonthaburi police chief.
Pol Col Somsakchai Amornsongcharoen, Muang district police commander, said police also examined a high-rise building overlooking the expressway on the same side of Ngam Wong Wan Road as the ministry was within possible firing range.
The attack was witnessed by Aueychai Moonsiri, 37, an official with the Emergency Medical Institute. He said he heard the first grenade go off and saw smoke from the second blast minutes later.
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