Two small explosions hit northern Thailand

Two explosions occurred early Tuesday morning near the local newspaper's office building and a hotel along a main road in northern Bangkok, causing slight damages but no casualties.

According to a report on the English-language newspaper Bangkok Post's website, the first explosion took place around 1 am (1800 GMT) just in front of the office building of local Thai-language newspaper Daily News on the Viphavadee Rangsit road.

Shortly after and about 30 meters away from the first explosion, the second blast hit the parking lot of the Rama Gardens Hotel.

The explosions caused slight damage to buildings' walls and ground, but no injuries were reported.

At both scenes, police found explosive debris. Officers and bomb squad members said they believed the explosives were "projectile devices fired from a launcher" on the Don Muang Tollway leading to the now decommissioned Bangkok (Don Muang) International Airport, which runs above the Viphavadee Rangsit road, where the explosions occurred.

Securities had been enhanced in Bangkok following the series bombings during the new year that hit across Bangkok and its suburb, killing three people and injuring some 40 others.

Thailand's southernmost provinces have been undergoing unabated insurgent violence, which sees daily bombings, drive-by shootings and arson attacks and has killed more than 1,900 people since the insurgency resurfaced three years ago.

However, the capital had been kept free of terrorist-type attacks until the New Year's Eve bombings. Suspicions were firstly directed to southern insurgents immediately after the bombings took place, but the Thai government soon determinedly pointed the figure at "people who lost power" with the ousting of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's administration by the Sept. 19 coup last year.

No material results have come out from the investigation on the New Year's Eve bombings. 18 out of the 19 suspects detained by police about two weeks ago have been released due to lack of evidence.

Police, still investigating the latest blasts Tuesday, said the new attacks seemed to bear little resemblance to the New Year's Eve bombings, which involved time bombs set to go off in crowded public areas, while the explosions this morning were probably caused by grenades, and though they landed at public areas, they occurred at such a time that poverty damage and casualties were likely to be light.