Iranian man triggers blasts in Bangkok

Thai security forces found more explosives in the house where the Iranian man was staying with two compatriots in Bangkok,but the possible targets were not immediately known,Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said.

In Thailand,Tuesdays bizarre sequence of explosions began when explosives apparently detonated by accident,blowing off part of the roof of the Bangkok house.

City surveillance footage from just after that blast showed separate images of each of the suspects walking down the middle of a residential street. One man wearing a baseball cap and a dark jacket carried a large backpack over one shoulder and what appeared to be two portable transistor radios,one in each hand.

A second suspect wearing sunglasses,a T-shirt,pants and tennis shoes also carried a backpack,while the third,dressed in camouflage shorts carried nothing.

A passport found at one blast scene identified one man as Saeid Moradi from Iran,Pansiri said. Moradi tried to wave down a taxi but the driver refused, Pansiri said. Moradi then threw an explosive that hit the taxi and partially destroyed it. Police responding to the first blast tried to apprehend Moradi,who hurled a grenade at them. But somehow it bounced back and blew off one of his legs,Pansiri said.

Photos showed the wounded man covered in dark soot on a sidewalk. He lay in front of a Thai school,head raised as if he was attempting to sit up or look around. Hospital officials said Moradis right leg was severed below the knee,while his left leg was intact but severely wounded.

The blasts also wounded three Thai men and one Thai woman.

Tuesday night,security forces at a Bangkok airport detained an Iranian,identified as Mohummad Hazaei,as he tried to board a flight for Malaysia,police said. They said he was one of the three in the house where explosives went off. A third Iranian is on the run.

Israel blames Iran for explosions
Jerusalem: Israels defence minister has accused Iran of being behind explosions in Thailand. Ehud Barak said Tuesdays explosion in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror. He said that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are unrelenting terror elements.

In Gulf,Iran boats shadow US carrier
Aboard The USS Abraham Lincoln: Iranian patrol boats and aircraft shadowed a US aircraft carrier strike group as it transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. But officers onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln said there were no incidents with Iranian forces and described the surveillance as routine measures by Tehran near the strategic strait.