At least six small bombs exploded in Bangkok today, killing two people, wounding more than 20 and shocking the Thai capital into cancelling New Year countdown celebrations.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs, which went off within about an hour and included one put under a seat at a bus stop outside a shopping mall which killed one person and wounded 16.
All were planted well away from areas frequented by the many foreign holidaymakers who head to Thailand at this time of year, the country's high season for tourism.
Police said there were no immediate arrests and there was no apparent connection to violence in the Muslim far south where militants have set off similar series of bombs in towns during three years of separatist insurgency.
"I don't believe it has anything to do with the militants in the south," deputy national police chief General Achiravit Supanpasat told a news conference, referring to an insurgency which has cost more than 1,800 lives.
The militants in a region annexed by overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand a century ago, who never claim responsibility for attacks, are not known to have launched attacks outside the region so far despite constant fears they would.
But Mr Achiravit did not say who police think was responsible for the first such violence in Bangkok since a September 19th coup ousted elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Some schools have been burned down outside Bangkok and the army has maintained martial law in several areas, citing "undercurrents", but Thaksin supporters have denied any recourse to violence.
Soldiers armed with M-16 assault rifles took over areas around the places where the bombs went off but Mr Achiravit said no curfew was necessary, despite rumours sweeping the city that one would be imposed.
Nevertheless, Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin went on stage at the main New Year party in the city's premier shopping district and led the countdown more than three hours early. Police then moved in to usher people away. "To be on the safe side, we told people to go home," Mr Apirak told reporters, promising a joint police and army security operation throughout Bangkok with special emphasis on transport routes and the city's many shopping malls.
The bomb outside the shopping mall near the Victory Monument in the centre of the city caused the largest number of injuries. Another was placed in a trash can at a market in the port district, killing one person and wounding four, including a 10-year-old child. One went off near a police booth, wounding two, police said.