Police in Thailand have said that 15 suspects, including several military officers, have been detained over a string over bombings in Bangkok at New Year.
Police officers and soldiers searched 18 locations in Bangkok and nearby provinces on Saturday, taking eight military officers and seven civilians into custody, a police officer said.
None of the suspects have been charged.
Three people were killed and 42 injured by eight co-ordinated small bomb blasts in the capital on December 31 as people were preparing to welcome in the New Year.
Among the locations searched by security forces was a community radio station in Lopburi just outside of Bangkok where authorities believe the bombs were assembled, police said.
"I was informed by the police that they have detained some suspects and it is very regrettable that some officers are involved."
Surayud Chulanont, prime minister of Thailand |
"I was informed by the police that they have detained some suspects and it is very regrettable that some officers are involved," Surayud Chulanont, the prime minister, said.
"It is the power of the police to investigate and file charges if they have evidence."
Colonel Sansern Khaewkhamnerd, a spokesman for the military-installed Council for National Security, told the Associated Press news agency that soldiers were part of the raids because some suspects are army officers.
Thailand's military has said that the bombings were staged by politicians and army officers loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was exiled by a coup on September 19.
Thaksin has accused the country's ruling authorities of unfairly implying he was behind the violence. He also said he suspected that separatists who have been waging a long-running insurgency in the country's Muslim-majority south may have carried out the attack.
Several of the separatist groups have also denied any involvement in the eight small bombings.