BANGKOK - A SMALL bomb exploded in a police booth near the occupied compound of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej early on Monday, shattering nearby windows but injuring nobody, police said.

Police blamed the blast on attack on agitators trying to depict them as incapable of maintaining security in the capital, where the protest occupation of Government House is now in its seventh day.

'They want to show that the government and the police are too weak to protect the people,' national police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong told Reuters. 'It is something we expected would have happened.'

The bomb detonated shortly after the end of a joint parliament session initiated by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to seek a way out of the political turmoil that has raised fears of bloodshed and economic growth.

Mr Samak rejected the opposition's call to quit or hold a snap poll.

Tensions peaked on Friday when police fired teargas and rubber bullets to repel 2,000 protesters trying to storm Bangkok police headquarters. Protesters also shut down three regional airports, all of which have since reopened.

Mr Samak, who has said he would never bow to the demands of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), warned in his weekly radio address that his patience was wearing out.

'I am not afraid, but I am concerned about chaos in the nation,' he said. 'We cannot let the seizure of Government House continue indefinitely without taking action.'

The PAD, a motley group of businessmen, academics and activists whose campaign against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra led to his overthrow in a 2006 coup, accuses Mr Samak of being an illegitimate proxy of Thaksin.

The PAD also proclaims itself to be a defender of the king against a supposed Thaksin plan to turn Thailand into a republic.

Both accusations are denied by Mr Samak and Thaksin, who skipped bail on graft charges and fled to London earlier this month. -- REUTERS