Thailand steps up security following mall bombing

Security has been stepped up in the Thai capital city of Bangkok after two bombs went off in a shopping mall in the city, which has been under martial law since last May.

“I have ordered security to be tightened because this case involves the well-being of the people,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday.

The explosions, which occurred on Sunday evening in the heart of one of Bangkok’s busiest shopping districts, left two people slightly injured and caused little damage. They were the first to rock the capital since the Thai army seized power and ousted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014 following months of anti-government protests and violence in the country.

Using the incident to justify the military rule in the country, the premier added, “This case shows that we still need martial law … there are still bad people disrupting the peace. We must find ways to severely punish them.”

Two possible suspects could be seen in CCTV footage near where the pipe bombs blasted. However, the images were not clear and the suspects had not been identified, according to police.

The country has seen a rise in political tension since last month after a national assembly picked by the junta barred Yingluck from politics for five years in a move that angered those who support the former premier and her self-exiled elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thailand has been the scene of a political crisis since the 2006 military coup that deposed Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon-turned-populist politician, who clashed with the then royalist establishment.