A small explosion near Sukhumvit Soi 40 wounded two female state cleaners this afternoon. Police identified the device as a “ping pong” bomb hidden in a plastic bag.
The explosion occurred at about 1pm today outside the UNESCO Bangkok office.
“It was in a plastic bag hidden in a bush, and city cleaning staff went to pick it out and opened it. That was when it exploded,” a police officer at the scene told Reuters.
The injured cleaners were identified as Siwanna Sripeng, 51 and Namwhan Sukklin, 43. Namwhan reportedly suffered from an irritation in her eyes and was sent to Chulalongkorn Hospital, Thairath reported.
Siwanna ended up with minor scratches on legs.
Police suspect that the ping pong bomb, which gets its unusual name for its small size, was dumped by some troubled teenagers in the area.
The blast came a day after authorities said they had arrested a suspect in connection with an explosion last month at a military-run hospital in Bangkok that injured more than 20 people.
