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Bomb defused amid Thai tensions

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A police squad defused a bomb at the headquarters of the opposition Democrat Party, six days before Thais head to the polls in a snap election called by the beleaguered prime minister.

The tissue-sized box found on Monday contained enough TNT to take down the office building, said party spokesman Ongard Klampaiboom.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb, but The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the Democrat Party as blaming political opponents.

The bomb had been placed directly below the office of party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva. He had left the building at 10 a.m., Ongard said, about 10 minutes before the bomb was set to go off.

Thai political parties are campaigning for elections in April, after embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called a snap vote in early March.

He called the vote after anti-government protests grew when his family announced it had sold its controlling stake in telecom company Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings for a tax-free $1.9 billion.

Critics have accused Thaksin of corruption and abuse of power, saying the billionaire leader has undermined Thailand's system of checks and balances and bent government policy to benefit his family's business.

The country's main opposition parties are boycotting the general election vote and demanding electoral reform.

To assuage his critics, Thaksin has offered to give a quota of seats to his opponents in an effort to form a government of national unity.

But opponents rejected his offer to include them in a new government if he is re-elected, AP reported.

Elsewhere in Bangkok, Thaksin supporters rallied during a campaign stop. The prime minister is popular with rural Thais, who cite his health care program and crackdown on the drug trade as reasons to keep him in office.

Protest organizers on Saturday called on King Bhumibol Adulyadej to intervene in the crisis and appoint an interim government, AP reported.

The king's top advisers have called for calm, but the palace has kept its distance because the constitutional monarch is not supposed to get involved in politics.

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