Thailand adds more police for New Year festival

Bangkok, Apr 10: Thailand's army-backed government will deploy extra police in Bangkok for Thai New Year celebrations this weekend to prevent a repeat of the serial blasts of December 31 that killed three people, police said.

A small bomb which went off in a phone booth outside a cinema yesterday night heightened the fears of security forces, who are yet to present a cogent argument as to who was behind the New Year's Eve blasts, which also wounded more than 30 people.

Nobody was hurt in yesterday night's explosion, which police said would have been too small to be fatal.

Metropolitan Police Lieutenant-General Adisorn Nonsee said more than 3,000 police officers would patrol the capital, up from the current 1,500, during the three-day ''Songkran'' festival which kicks off on Friday.

Areas of particular concern were the Khao San Road, a celebrated meeting point for foreign tourists and backpackers, and Sanuam Luang, a large park in the centre of the old part of the city which attracts thousands of Songkran revellers.

The generals who ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a September 19 coup were quick to blame Thaksin's camp for the New Year's Eve blasts.

He denied any link and several senior officials have since said the bombs were probably the work of Muslim militants from the far south.

The southern militants theory gained added weight in February when suspected Muslim separatists launched a series of coordinated bomb, arson and small arms attacks across the region at the start of celebrations marking the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The attacks, in which more than 50 people were wounded, hit karaoke bars and hotels as well as schools, houses and phone booths.

ASIAN TOURISTS WORRY

The Australian embassy in Bangkok issued an advisory to its citizens in late February, saying it had received reports of possible bombs in crowded places such as department stores or public transport in the capital.

The advice, which urged ''a high degree of caution because of the high threat of terrorist attack'', remains in place.

Since the New Year, security guards have been checking bags at the entrance to Bangkok's Skytrain and subway stations.

The unrest in both Bangkok and the far south appears to have had an impact on the number of tourist arrivals in the self-styled ''Land of Smiles''.

Figures released this week by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) showed the number of east Asian visitors fell 7.3 per cent in the first two months of the year compared to the same period of 2006, although overall arrivals were up 2 per cent.

''A drop in tourist numbers this year is not a big surprise as we just had the New Year bombs. Some people are still concerned about security and may want to wait and see,'' TAT spokesman Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya said.

Seven people were killed in five separate incidents in the Muslim-majority far south on Monday, adding to a death toll in three years of separatist unrest that is now well over 2,000.

In the worst incident, gunmen killed three Muslims when they opened fire on a pickup truck carrying Muslim mourners leaving the funeral of a village headman who had been blown up in his pickup truck earlier in the day.

REUTERS