ID :
120836
Sat, 05/08/2010 - 11:41
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http://m.oananews.org//node/120836
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Two police dead, 13 wounded in grenade, shooting violence on Silom and Rama IV roads
BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) -- Two police officers were killed and 13 persons wounded, including seven police, three soldiers and three civilians, in two deadly attacks by unknown assailants in Bangkok’s Silom Road financial district and nearby Sala Daeng-Rama IV Road, Bangkok police said Saturday.
Senior police officers were meeting urgently Saturday morning, and are expected to allow officers on the street to be armed after the violence of the past 24 hours, four days after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed a five-point national reconciliation plan aimed at ending Thailand's political turbulence.
Police said the first incident occurred at about 11pm Friday when gunmen fired at police and civilians outside Krung Thai Bank's Silom branch, near Sala Daeng intersection which is not far from the rally site of the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
Five persons -- three police and two civilians -- were wounded in the late night incident, police said, with one wounded police officer dying later in nearby Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Witnesses told police that three fireworks were fired from Lumpini Park where the Red Shirt UDD protesters are gathered, followed by six gunshots outside the bank, shattering it's glass door.
Police suspected that the gunmen fired from a high-rise building at Sala Daeng intersection.
The second incident took place at 1.30am Saturday morning when assailants fired three apparent M-79 grenades, hitting near a park gate on Rama IV Road where a joint check-point of police and military was located.
Five anti-riot police officers were wounded, one of whom died later in hospital, and three soldiers were wounded in the incident, police said.
Acting national police chief Pol Gen Patheep Tanprasert ordered reinforcements into the area and called an urgent meeting early Saturday.
Most police posted at the park and on Silom Road are now armed with batons and shields, and it is now expected that they will be armed and carry weapons while on duty.
The Red Shirt UDD demonstrators denied involvement in the attacks. (TNA)
Senior police officers were meeting urgently Saturday morning, and are expected to allow officers on the street to be armed after the violence of the past 24 hours, four days after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed a five-point national reconciliation plan aimed at ending Thailand's political turbulence.
Police said the first incident occurred at about 11pm Friday when gunmen fired at police and civilians outside Krung Thai Bank's Silom branch, near Sala Daeng intersection which is not far from the rally site of the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
Five persons -- three police and two civilians -- were wounded in the late night incident, police said, with one wounded police officer dying later in nearby Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Witnesses told police that three fireworks were fired from Lumpini Park where the Red Shirt UDD protesters are gathered, followed by six gunshots outside the bank, shattering it's glass door.
Police suspected that the gunmen fired from a high-rise building at Sala Daeng intersection.
The second incident took place at 1.30am Saturday morning when assailants fired three apparent M-79 grenades, hitting near a park gate on Rama IV Road where a joint check-point of police and military was located.
Five anti-riot police officers were wounded, one of whom died later in hospital, and three soldiers were wounded in the incident, police said.
Acting national police chief Pol Gen Patheep Tanprasert ordered reinforcements into the area and called an urgent meeting early Saturday.
Most police posted at the park and on Silom Road are now armed with batons and shields, and it is now expected that they will be armed and carry weapons while on duty.
The Red Shirt UDD demonstrators denied involvement in the attacks. (TNA)
