Elections marred by deadly bomb

(AFP/GETTY)

A bomb at a Bangkok bus stop killed one person and wounded at least 10 after polls closed in yesterday's parliamentary by-election.

The bomb had been hidden near a litter bin on Ratchadamri Road in the heart of Bangkok's commercial district, an area occupied by thousands of red shirt anti-government protesters for several weeks until an army crackdown on May 19.

There was no indication of who had planted the device or whether it was linked to a Bangkok by-election in which a ruling party candidate narrowly beat an anti-government protest leader who has been jailed since May on terrorism charges. The poll had been seen as a referendum on Thailand's recent political unrest. The blast killed a 51-year-old man; seven men and three women were wounded.

It was the first lethal bomb attack in Bangkok since troops and red shirts clashed in April and May. Thailand has since been mostly stable after the Army intervention, with red shirt leaders in prison.