Nine Thais injured at Lao border post

Nine Thais injured at Lao border post

BANGKOK (AP): An explosion rocked a border and immigration checkpoint in Laos, just across the Mekong river from Thailand, injuring at least nine Thai tourists, police said.

They said the explosion appears to have been caused by a bomb.

The injured, including two in a serious condition, were brought by Lao immigration officials to the Thai town of Nong Khai, police Col. Sakda Wongsiriyanon said in a telephone interview from the town.

Nong Khai is 510 kilometers northeast of Bangkok and is connected with Laos by the 1-kilometer-long Friendship Bridge across the Mekong. The Lao immigration and border checkpoint is at the foot of the bridge.

Sakda said Lao authorities told their Thai counterparts that the explosion was caused by a computer blowing up, apparently due to an electrical short circuit. But Thai authorities were not convinced.