Another time bomb has exploded in the Lao capital, Vientiane, killing the suspected bomber before he was able to plant it, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
The blast occurred around 8 p.m. Sunday, near a building now occupied by the Lao Women�s Federation, police sources told RFA�s Lao service. The building, located on a minor thoroughfare known as Manthathourath Road, was formerly occupied by the Lao Civil Aviation office.
The man who was killed in the explosion appeared to be a Lao lowlander in his late 20s, police said. �We believe he was a bad element,� one police source said, suggesting the bomber was a troublemaker aiming to undermine the Lao government.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion and the dead man remains unidentified, police said.
On April 2, a bomb exploded outside a Russian restaurant in Vientiane but caused no deaths or injuries. That bomb was planted under a Toyota pickup truck in the parking lot of a Russian restaurant, Katusha�s, located next to the Xieng Nhun pagoda along the Mekong River.
On Feb. 4, another bomb went off near the Patouxay monument in Vientiane. No casualties were reported. A Lao official who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity said it was a time-bomb explosion, which came during a high-profile meeting in Vientiane of tourism ministers and officials from ASEAN countries along with China, Japan, and South Korea.#####