Man with Iranian papers hurt in Bangkok blast

A man believed to be Iranian was seriously wounded when a device he was suspected of carrying exploded in the Thai capital Bangkok on Tuesday, police said. Police investigators rushed to the scene after three men were seen fleeing from a house where a blast was reported in the east of the city. One of the men hurled an explosive device at a taxi which refused to stop and later tried to throw another device at police, triggering a blast which tore off his legs, authorities said. "An Iranian ID was found with the injured man so it's likely that he's an Iranian national," Major General Pisit Pisuthisak, deputy commander of Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told AFP by telephone from the scene. "A police forensics team is examining the house," he added. The suspect was admitted to a Bangkok hospital where he was receiving emergency treatment. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people not to "jump to conclusions" about the circumstances behind the blasts. "Let the police and intelligence agencies do their work and the public must not panic because the perpetrator was detained," she told reporters during a visit to northeast Thailand. The city has been on edge since the United States last month warned of a threat of a terrorist strike on tourist areas in Bangkok. Thai police later charged a Lebanese suspect after they raided a property and discovered chemicals that could be used to make a bomb. Thai authorities allege the Lebanese man has links to Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Muslim Shiite group that is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington. The Bangkok blasts came a day after bombs targeted Israeli interests in India and Georgia, injuring a diplomat and her driver in New Delhi, in attacks that Israel accused Iran of masterminding.