Qualla: 2006 Bangkok Bombings

2006 Bangkok Bombings: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Bangkok was counting down to midnight when the first blast hit a bus-stop shelter at Victory Monument. It was 6 p.m. on December 31, 2006, and instead of fireworks, the city's busiest transportation hub erupted in shattered glass and screaming. Within ninety minutes, seven more explosions would follow across the capital, turning New Year's Eve celebrations into a coordinated campaign of terror. The attacks came just three months after a military coup had overthrown the elected government, and the question of who planted the bombs became inseparable from the question of who truly controlled Thailand.

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Image: Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia | Public domain

2006 Bangkok Bombings: Eight Blasts in Ninety Minutes

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Manik Sethisuwan, Public domain. The first bombs detonated almost simultaneously at around 6 p.m. in different parts of the city. At Victory Monument, a device hidden in a bus-stop shelter killed two people and injured seventeen, including a Hungarian tourist. In Khlong Toei, near Na Ranong intersection, a bomb ...

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Image: Manik Sethisuwan | Public domain

2006 Bangkok Bombings: The Letters on the Walls

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Patiwat at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. At three bomb sites, investigators found the letters "IRK" written in marker in four places: on a pillar near Victory Monument, on phone booths near Gaysorn mall and Pratunam Pier, and near the BigC department store on Ratchadamri Road. The IRK was known as an Afghanistan-trained...

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Image: Patiwat at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

2006 Bangkok Bombings: Blame Without Evidence

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont blamed what he called the "old power clique," a reference to deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his allies. Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party denied involvement and warned the junta not to make accusations without facts. Surayud later backt...

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Image: Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia | Public domain

2006 Bangkok Bombings: A City Under Lockdown

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The aftermath transformed Bangkok's physical landscape. Six thousand military checkpoints appeared across the capital overnight. The governor ordered all fifty districts to collect their rubbish bins, stripping the city of the very objects that had concealed several of the bombs....

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Image: Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia | Public domain

2006 Bangkok Bombings: Justice Deferred

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia, Public domain. On January 20, 2007, police arrested fifteen military officers and civilians under martial law provisions that allowed seven days of detention without charges. Among them was Lt. Col. Suchart Khadsungnone, an officer from junta leader Sonthi's own Lopburi-based Special Warfare Co...

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Image: Manik Sethisuwan at English Wikipedia | Public domain