Bangkok: The Thai capital's main financial district was partially crippled yesterday following deadly grenade attacks and a tense standoff between die-hard, anti-government demonstrators and a government that has yielded vital areas of Bangkok to them.
Many banks, offices, restaurants and a major shopping complex were closed along Silom Road, known as Thailand's Wall Street. Traffic was light in the normally jammed four-lane thoroughfare, and even many small-time food vendors had left their patches of pavement.
The late-night attacks involved five M-79 grenades shot from near where anti-government Red Shirt protesters have been encamped for weeks, and the blasts struck areas where counter-demonstrators gathered, but the government stopped short of directly blaming the Red Shirts.
The late-night attacks killed at least three and wounded 86, according to the government's Erawan Emergency Centre, which handles victim counts in crises and disasters.
The head of a key security agency, Tharit Pengdit, urged the general public to avoid the area near the protests and warned that anyone involved in "terrorism" will face the death penalty.
Demand for elections
Thousands of mostly rural Red Shirts have been entrenched on Bangkok's streets since March 12 in a campaign to dissolve Parliament and hold immediate elections, and Thailand's powerful military has warned them that time is running out to clear the streets or face a crackdown.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern that the situation could escalate and called for dialogue, his spokesman said.
And the US State Department advised American citizens to avoid travel to Bangkok. Earlier in the week, the US had recommended against visiting the Thai capital but did not go as far to advise against it.
"Due to escalating violence in central Bangkok, all US citizens should avoid nonessential travel to Bangkok," the advisory said. "The possibility of more such attacks cannot be ruled out."
