Bangkok: Iranian man throws bomb at police; 5 hurt

Thailand: Perpetrator severely injures himself when he throws bomb which bounces back towards him, 'Bangkok Post' reports; 5 injured in 2 blasts; attack comes after embassy attacks in India, Georgia.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Bangkok bombing 390 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Bangkok bombing 390
(photo credit: REUTERS)
An Iranian man severely injured himself in Bangkok when he threw a bomb at Thai police and it ricocheted off a tree, exploding as it bounced back towards him, the English-language Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post reported Tuesday. The incident came one day after near simultaneous attacks on Israeli embassies in India and Georgia.
Shortly before, there had been an explosion in a house the man was renting in the Ekamai area of central Bangkok, government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng told reporters.
Two bombs on Sukhumvit 71 road in the Thai capital wounded five people, including the Iranian man, according to the Post report. Witnesses reported seeing a man, identified in press reports as Saeib Morabi, lying beside a blown-out telephone booth with his legs decimated.
According to a Thai television report, an "Iranian man" carrying a "black bag" hurled the first bomb towards a taxi after the driver refused to accept him as a passenger.
Thitima said police had tried to move in and arrest the man after the blast by the taxi but he attempted to throw another bomb at them. However, it went off before he was able to do that, blowing one leg off and wounding the other.
Witnesses told the newspaper in Bangkok that an unidentified man hurled the explosive and then fled.
Police in Bangkok said the bomb was thrown nearby the Kasempithaya School in Soi Pridhiphanomyong 31-33.
Thai police have closed down the adjacent intersection for investigations, according to the Post.  Thai authorities were reportedly searching for two other suspects who were living in the house that exploded together with Morabi.
Thai police arrested two Lebanese men with alleged Hezbollah ties last month on suspicions of building an explosive device.
On Monday, two Israeli embassies were attacked in the Georgian and Indian capitals. One Israeli diplomat's wife was injured in the latter attack, which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed on Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

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The United States, Israel and other countries issued warnings of possible terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.