December 31, 2006: New Year's Eve Bombings

A bomb squad came shortly after a bomb went off at a bus stop near the Victory Monument

One person was killed and at least 17 injured when a powerful bomb went off at the Victory Monument at about 6.30pm. The blast ripped through bus stops, shattering windows at a restaurant and sent debris flying in all directions.

The New Year's eve bombings capped a year of unrest in the nation, with political turmoil that was capped by a coup d'etat three months ago and an ongoing insurgency in the Malay-speaking deep South.

Two people were injured in a blast at the Saphan Kwai intersection. Witnesses said they saw a man drop a grenade from a pedestrian bridge onto a police booth below.

A bomb was found in a dustbin outside a gold shop on the first floor of Seacon Square shopping mall on Srinakharin Road. It was removed to the parking lot and went off harmlessly when no one was standing near. The blast created panic among the roughly 10,000 shoppers in the mall at the time, who were ordered to evacuate. All outlets in the mall were ordered to close their shutters.

There were blasts at two police booths, one at the Khae Rai intersection in Nonthaburi province just north of Bangkok, where police said the closed circuit TV monitors went out of action about 3 hours before. The other was at the entrance of Sukhumvit Road Soi 62. No injuries were reported.