Bomb caused Bangkok hospital blast: Thai cops

An explosion that ripped through a hospital in Bangkok on Monday (May 22) morning was caused by a bomb, Thai police said.

The explosion, which injured 24 people, took place in a waiting room for retired officers at the Phramongkutklao Hospital, a military hospital in the heart of the capital.The officers were waiting for their medicine when the blast went off, reported The Nation.

"It's confirmed to be a bomb," deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul was quoted by online news website Khaosod English as saying. He added that traces of battery and electrical wires were found on the scene.

"Right now, authorities are checking out closed circuit cameras," Kamthorn Aucharoen, commander of the police's explosive ordnance team, told Reuters, adding it was not clear who was behind the attack.

 Most of the wounded were hit by flying glass, the military's national security unit said.Soldiers cordoned off the hospital's entrance, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. Thai news channel TNN24 reported that the bomb is believed to have been placed in or close to a flower vase.

The blast comes on the third anniversary of the 2014 military coup, which overthrew a caretaker civilian government led by the Puea Thai party. The Kingdom remains under military rule as new laws are being drafted to prepare for fresh elections, expected some next year.

It is not clear at this moment if the explosions are related to political conflict, or the long-running separatist insurgency in the Malay-Muslim