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 occupiedby the Lao Women�s Federation, police sources told RFA�s Lao service. Thebuilding, 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 inhis late 20s, police said. �We believe he was a bad element,� one policesource said, suggesting the bomber was a troublemaker aiming to underminethe Lao government.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion and the dead manremains unidentified, police said.
On April 2, a bomb exploded outside a Russian restaurant inVientiane but caused no deaths or injuries. That bomb was planted under aToyota 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 conditionof anonymity said it was a time-bomb explosion, which came during ahigh-profile meeting in Vientiane of tourism ministers and officials fromASEAN countries along with China, Japan, and South Korea.#####