Australia warns of bomb threat in Bangkok

Bangkok, Feb 23: Australia told its citizens in Thailand to be on extra alert today after receiving reports of possible bomb attacks on crowded places in Bangkok, such as department stores or public transport.

''We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution because of the high threat of terrorist attack,'' the Australian embassy said in a travel advisory on its Web site (www.austembassy.or.th/).

''Reports indicate possible bombing attacks at crowded places such as department stores, and sky-train and subway stations in Bangkok on Friday 23, February 2007,'' it said.

A series of explosions in Bangkok on New Year's Eve killed three people and wounded 30, including six foreigners.

At first, the government suggested the blasts were linked to politicians who had lost out in the September 19 military coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

However, some investigators are now saying the coordinated explosions may have been the work of Muslim militants from the far south, where more than 2,000 people have died in three years of separatist violence.

So far, the unrest has stayed in the immediate vicinity of the four southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and Songkhla.

Lunar New Year celebrations in the region, where 80 percent of the population are ethnic Malay Muslims, were targeted at the weekend with a string of around 50 bombs, shootings and arson attacks in which eight people died.

Travel advice on the Web sites of the British embassies and US embassies remained unchanged.

Reuters