Two small improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exploded near the Siam Paragon shopping mall in central Bangkok on the evening of Sunday, February 1st, 2015. The IEDs were said to be two pipe bombs detonated by digital clocks set for 8 p.m. according to the Royal Thai Police. The devices were placed behind power transformers on an elevated walkway linking the Bangkok BTS elevated skytrain to Siam Paragon. The bombs caused little damage but one man was slightly injured. Following the bomb blasts, Siam Paragon and other retail outlets in the Siam Square/Siam Center area were closed, the Siam BTS station was temporarily closed, roads were blocked and shoppers and diners were evacuated from the area.
It appears that the bombs were not intended to kill. It appears the attack was aimed at raising tensions in the city and create panic. These were the first bombs to shake Bangkok since the military seized power in May, 2014. Small bomb blasts were a relatively common occurrence in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand during months of political violence in 2014. Political tension in Thailand has been high since a national assembly, the NLA, hand-picked by the junta last month banned former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from politics for five years. The decisions angered supporters of Yingluck and her exiled brother Thaksin, although there has been little sign of a return to the street protests that have dogged Thailand for the past ten years. Military repression has snuffed out dissent since the coup.
