Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Grenade in bag goes off, injuring Thai man

Updated at 4:31 pm on 30 July 2010

A grenade explosion in the Thai capital, Bangkok, has critically injured a man and stoked fears of further civil unrest.

On Sunday a bomb explosion killed one person and injured eight others at a bus stop near the site of the rally where anti-government protests were set up until they were dispersed in May.

In the latest incident, the ABC reports, police say a grenade wrapped in a rubbish bag exploded in the early hours of the morning near Victory Monument, an area usually choked with traffic and surrounded by government buildings.

A man collecting scrap from rubbish apparently picked up a plastic bag that contained a grenade from which the pin had been removed, and it exploded.

The Thai Government has announced it will lift the state of emergency in six more provinces - but not in Bangkok, because of the ongoing intermittent violence.

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