A series of small explosions in Bangkok on February 14th is being blamed on a group of men of Iranian origin. One of the men was seriously injured by his own device as he was challenged by police. 3 by-standers were injured in the blast. The dead man has been identified by Thai police as an Iranian, and they say they arrested 3 of his cohorts.
The blasts occurred close to Sukhumvit Road at Soi 77. Parts of Sukhumvit Road are popular tourist destinations, but the bar areas of Soi Cowboy and Soi 33 are 3 kilometres (2 miles) to the west.
(Get an interactive version of this map here.)
Warning to Israelis
The Israeli government says the discovery of the bomb-making team is linked to a series of attacks on Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in the past week (see this Washington Post report).
Counter-terrorism experts believe Bangkok (and Caracas, Venezuela) are hubs for the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. They also believe the group is retaliating for the murder of Iranian nuclear scientists by targeting Israeli and jewish interests abroad.
In January 2012 the israeli government issued a warning to its citizens to stay away from Bangkok because of the discovery of another group in the final stages of planning an attack.
The US and several other nations joined Israel in issuing caution notices to their citizens in bangkok. Those warnings were lifted in late january.
However, it seems there is a link between that advice and the latest occurrences.
Am I At Risk?
The Australian government has noted the latest incident, but has not changed its travel advice from "exercise a high degree of caution".
As the map above shows, the blasts happened far enough away from the most popular parts of Sukhumvit Road not to cause immediate concern.
The Hezbollah campaign appears to be targeting Israeli diplomats. The 2 attacks so far have been small devices which attached magnetically to vehicles, so indiscriminate killing does not appear likely. However, it would be wise to exercise extreme caution while visiting Israeli government buildings or offices.
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