Pol Lt Col Ek Angsananont, a provincial police chief said that fire fighters and bomb disposal squads could put under control the blazes and the blasts at the army depot.

Forensic officers were sent into the area to investigate the cause of the explosions, he said.

The blasts erupted at the depot in Muang district at about 8pm, thundering sounds were heard and flames engulfed the area.

Gen Sonthi said that the heat caused the explosions at the arsenal and no one was injured.

Lt Gen Theerawat Boonyapradab, commander of the army's ordnance department, said earlier that bomb disposal squads were sent into the depot to stop the blasts.

Lop Buri authorities deployed more fire fighters into the areas to put out the huge fires that engulfed the arsenal.

"As of now, there is not known yet what caused the explosions. The depot is used to stock several kinds of ammunitions and explosives and it was constructed properly and meet the standard.

People and soldiers who lived in the area and monks at a nearby temple were evacuated. Fire fighters were struggling to put out the blaze.

The depot is used to stock old explosives transported from Nonthaburi province.

The biggest explosion at an army depot erupted in in Bangkok's Bang Sue district in 1980, killing some 40 people.

In October 2001, the blazes took place at an army arsenal in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Chong district. Seven people were killed.

The Nation