New Bomb Explodes Near Hotel in Lao Capital


2004.06.15

BANGKOK, June 15 — ; A bomb exploded near a fence along a hotel in the Lao capital of Vientiane late Tuesday, RFA's Lao service reports. No injuries or deaths have been reported.

At about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday, a bomb exploded near a concrete fence outside the Lan Xang Hotel opposite the Foreign Trade Bank (Banque pour le Commerce Extérieur Lao in French) in downtown Vientiane.

Local authorities said the loud explosion caused little physical damage, and that the type of explosive used was a C4 plastic explosive, similar to what was used in the 2002 bombing at a Bali nightclub that killed 200 people.

Government officials said the bomb explosion was the work of "bad elements" who want to destroy peace and political stability in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR).

Tuesday's bombing was the third this year to take place near the Foreign Trade Bank located on a thoroughfare known as Manthathourath Road in Vientiane. The others occurred on May 2 near a building now occupied by the Lao Women's Union — ; the only explosion acknowledged by Lao authorities — ; and on April 2, when a bomb planted under a Toyota pickup truck exploded outside a Russian restaurant.

Vientiane was rocked by 14 bombings between 2000 and 2001 in which four people were killed and more than 40 injured. No one claimed responsibility until last October, when an organization calling itself the Free Democratic People's Government of Laos said it was behind them.

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