Bombs not meant for large scale destruction: Thai official

Thai authorities probing the links between explosions in Bangkok and those in India and Georgia have found that bombs being used by the Iranian suspects were designed to inflict minimum damage and did not appear to be intended for acts of terrorism.

A National Security Council official said Bangkok on Wednesday that the bombs that exploded in a central Bangkok neighbourhood were intended to attack certain individuals, and were not for terrorism or sabotage, as they were made of materials that could not cause large-scale destruction.

The Thai authorities are examining materials that were used to make the bombs to find if they were of the same type as those used in the New Delhi bombing.

Council secretary-general Wichean Photephosree told reporters after a meeting with representatives of security agencies, including the armed forces, Royal Thai Police Office, and the Foreign Ministry, that it was not clear that the bombs were intended for acts of terrorism, judging from materials used to make the bombs.

The authorities were probing if yesterday's incident was linked to the near-simultaneous attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Georgia and India.

Israel's ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoham said on Wednesday that the suspects involved in assembling bombs here were "part of the same network" that targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. While the attacks in India and Georgia were near simultaneous, the one in Thailand came within 24 hours of the them.