An injured anti-government is treated by medic officials after the blast at their protesting ground of government house in Bangkok. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK - A GRENADE attack on anti-government protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's office killed one person and wounded at least 23 early on Thursday, an army official and protesters said.
There have been several bomb attacks against the anti-government movement but Thursday's blast was the first deadly attack at the Government House compound, which the protesters have occupied for three months.
Thai govt denies involvement in blast
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat on Thursday denied his administration was involved in a bomb attack at a Bangkok anti-government protest site which killed one person and injured 22.
Somchai said police would investigate and take swift action against those behind Thursday's attack at the Government House compound, occupied since late August by protest group the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The explosion occurred shortly after 3am while a band performed onstage on the front lawn of the prime minister's office, said Mr Amorn Amornratamanon, one of the protest leaders. The grenade landed on a giant tent near the stage that was sheltering dozens of people, he said.
'I was listening to the music when I heard a big bang. I ran to the stage and turned back to see several people lying on the ground,' said Ms Wimonwan Pranratsmee, a 42-year-old woman who was among the wounded.
Army General Prathomphong Kesornsuk, who was at the scene, said the device was an M-79 grenade.
The protesters, calling themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, have occupied the grounds of Government House since late August. The alliance is a mix of royalists, wealthy and middle-class urban residents and union activists.
Protesters are trying to prevent former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from returning to power following his ouster in a 2006 coup. They say the current leader, Mr Somchai Wongsawat, who is a brother-in-law of Thaksin, is his proxy.
Mr Somchai has been unable to enter Government House and now works out of an office at Bangkok's old international airport. -- AP
