Blast at mosque in northern Thailand

From correspondents in Bangkok

January 01, 2007 04:07pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse

A SMALL homemade bomb exploded at a mosque in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on today, injuring a Myanmar migrant worker, police said.

Witnesses told police that two men riding a motorcycle threw the explosive device at the mosque in central Chiang Mai.

The migrant suffered moderate injuries to his arm and hand, while the garage and some lights at the mosque were damaged, police said.

Police refused to say if they thought the attack was linked to the bomb blasts that killed three on New Year’s Eve in Bangkok.

Chiang Mai has the biggest Muslim community outside the insurgency-plagued provinces of southern Thailand, but the two communities have little in common other than their shared religion.

While the southern provinces along the Malaysian border suffer almost daily attacks that have killed more than 1700 people over three years, no insurgent violence has been reported in Chiang Mai.

 

Visiting Rev Robert Peh at Fang

Today we set off from Chiang Mai City to head north with Dn Hwee Lee, Auntie Jeannie. After about several hours drive, we were at Fang to visit Rev Robert Peh and his wife Dara at their farm orphanage.

Nelson began to experience an onset of fever at this time. Perhaps due to fatigue from the activities in the past few days. Nonetheless, we had a good time interacting with the children there as well as having Rev Peh show us around the orphanage. They reared cows, pigs and even grew rice. After 6 years there, they were able to built many new structures on their own. Such as the 2 storey bamboo house for guests.

While we were there, we met Teck Hiow from Calvary, who as a retired naval service men had come to teach the children english. He was planning to use his english teaching diploma to go into the mission field to tell the gospel. His “post-retirement” 2nd career. Praise God! We also saw 3 christian university young adults from Singapore who have decided to come up to Fang to help Rev Peh out with the ministry to the children. As university students ourselves, it was heartening to see student from other universities like SMU and NTU come to the mission field too. And some of them were only 1st year students. Perhaps yet another encouragement for tertiary students who have the luxury of an extended break to go out to preach the gospel to the many souls who have not heard the news of Salvation, of loosening the bonds of sin, of peace that surpasseth all understanding, of love unconditional.

Interestingly enough, Nelson found his ex-economics jc lecturer, Elder Victor Wee in virtually all the photos there. Elder Victor Wee is the resident/”borrowed” Elder since his retirement and has been staying in the orphanage for alternate months. Thank God for him. Nelson remembers him as always being a caring, jovial teacher and one of the few who were zealous for the Lord in his time in teaching service at Saint Andrews’ Junior College.

Later we headed towards our hotel in Chiang Rai. Nelson’s fever continued, as he took medicine and had an early night. Prayed that God would heal him or at least sustain him to see all that He had instore for us in the coming days of visiting some of the other mission work by Singaporeans in Northen Thailand.

 

Bangkok blasts leave three dead

A series of bomb or grenade explosions in the Thai capital has killed three people and injured about 30 others, including at least eight foreigners.

A first spate of six attacks occurred at sites across Bangkok as streets were filling up late afternoon local time ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Just before midnight, at least two further blasts rocked the city centre.

Two people died on Sunday, and a third man died of his injuries on Monday in hospital. All three victims were Thai.

The Thai authorities had cancelled all public celebrations for New Year’s Eve after the first devices went off.

Police do not believe foreign groups or militants from the Muslim south are to blame, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head.

There was a big bang and people started screaming and running

Chalermsak Sanbee -Witness

Our Bangkok correspondent says many Thais suspect the attacks were the work of opponents of the current military government, which forced Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office in September.

The latest explosions occurred near the Central World Plaza, a shopping mall close to where the biggest New Year’s event was to have been held.

The area had already been cleared. However the blasts caught several foreign tourists.

Two British men, three Hungarians, two Serbs and an American are receiving hospital treatment but none were thought to be in a serious condition, officials quoted by Reuters news agency said.

Of the earlier attacks, the largest was at about 1730 (1030 GMT) near a bus station next to one of Bangkok’s busiest intersections, Victory Monument.

Police said this caused the biggest number of casualties, injuring at least 13 people and killing one.

Reports suggest the device was planted beneath a seat at a bus stop or in a rubbish bin.

One witness who was standing nearby, 17-year-old Chalermsak Sanbee told Reuters news agency:

“There was a big bang and people started screaming and running. I saw people with blood all over their legs and faces.”

According to a police spokesman, the other blasts occurred:

* At 1720 on Sukhumvit Road in the south-east, causing no casualties
* Simultaneous blasts at 1800: at a crossroads in the north injuring two people, and in Kae Lak district injuring no-one
* At 1830 close to a Chinese temple in the Klong Toey district, killing one person and injuring six
* A bomb went off in a rubbish bin near the Seacon Square shopping area, injuring no-one

National police chief General Ajirawit Suphanaphesat said the authorities inspected other locations where suspicious packages were found.

Source: BBC News

Thank God for His mercies. Our shopping at walking street with Auntie Hwee Lee and Auntie Jeannie was cut short when we recieve news from Singapore of the blasts and decided it wise to leave the area that was extremely crowded with many foreigners and locals as it was a site for the NYE celebrations. Now Thailand’s political instability is sunk deeper please pray.