Thai PM warns public to be alert on violence

Thai Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanont's warning of more violence in the coming months is to arouse the public not to become reckless, Interior Minister Aree Wong-araya said Sunday.

Aree said the Prime Minister's objective in making the warning was to alert government agencies and the public on possible violence in the future because the climate of unrest is continuing.

Aree said he believed that Surayud's warning is not panic the public, saying that he had met with senior officials from the Interior Ministry and assigned the permanent secretary of the ministry to deploy more officials to "some risk places".

The Prime Minister said on Friday in a televised speech that he expected "more violence could erupt in the next one or two months".

Surayud's warning came after a series of bomb blasts happened in Mangkok on New Year's Eve which killed three persons and wounded 42 others including nine foreigners.

Source: Xinhua