By AMBIKA AHUJA / AP WRITER
BANGKOK — A grenade attack on protesters occupying the Thai prime minister's office killed one person and wounded 29 on Thursday, intensifying the country's political crisis after a respite for a royal funeral.
The assault was the first fatal one at the compound since it was seized by anti-government activists three months ago in their effort to force a change of government.
It came just hours after the end of a six-day mourning period for the elder sister of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Political protests were suspended during the period, but factions failed to unite around near universal respect for the monarchy.
The protesters, calling themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, have vowed not to leave the grounds of Government House until the allies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they accuse of corruption, are removed from power.
Bangkok police chief Gen. Jongrak Jutanond said he did not know who was behind the blast.
Several other explosions had been reported at the compound in recent weeks, but the protest group had refused to allow police entrance to investigate.
The protest alliance has profited politically from violence in the past, leading critics to suggest they seek out confrontations.
But some Thaksin supporters, who oppose the protesters, have also publicly expressed their intention to launch attacks.
Top protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul, however, blamed a third party for Thursday's blast—the authorities.
"The police chief, the metropolitan police chief and many other policemen collaborated and conspired with the government to kill civilians who are using their constitutional rights to protect the throne, the interest of the country and the people," he said. "The alliance will not tolerate the murderous government any longer."
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat denied government involvement in the blast.
In the wake of the attack, Sondhi called for a major gathering on Sunday at the Government House protest site, adding that the demonstrators would march to Parliament. The last time they marched on Parliament—on October 7—street battles with police left two dead and hundreds wounded. It was the country's worst political violence in more than a decade.
Thursday's explosion occurred shortly after 3 a.m. while a band performed on a lawn outside the prime minister's office, said Amorn Amornratamanon, another protest leader. The grenade landed on a giant nearby tent that was sheltering dozens of people, he said.
"I was listening to the music when I heard a big bang. I ran to the stage and turned back to see several people lying on the ground," said Wimonwan Pranratsmee, a 42-year-old woman who was among the wounded.
Surachet Sathitniramai, the director of the Narenthorn Medical Center, said a 48-year-old man died from a shrapnel wound to the throat. Another 29 people were injured, four of whom were hospitalized, he said.
The protesters say Somchai is a proxy for Thaksin, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and is living in exile, but remains the country's most influential politician. Somchai, a former judge and bureaucrat, is Thaksin's brother-in-law.
The crisis and sporadic violence has caused a slump in tourism, a key source of revenue for Thailand, which has been in political limbo since early 2006 when the alliance began protests against Thaksin for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
A military coup ousted him while he was abroad in September of that year. But the 59-year-old tycoon-turned-politician is adored in rural areas, and a December 2007 election put his political allies back in power.
A Thai court handed down Thaksin's first conviction last month and sentenced him in absentia to two years in prison for violating a conflict of interest law while in office. Thaksin traveled to Dubai recently after Britain revoked his visa.
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