The Thai Protests: Blood on the streets as bomb wounds 24 in central Bangkok

A bomb wounded 24 people in a busy shopping district in the center of the Thai capital on Sunday, hours after supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised to get tough with demonstrators paralyzing parts of the city.

The bomb went off near one of the few large protest sites remaining, leaving blood and sandals on the streets near Central World shopping mall, one of Asia's largest.

Three children had serious head injuries, Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals, said.

Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) had vowed to "deal with" anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for possible confrontation between pro- and anti-government groups.

"This fight will be harder than any other ... You must think how we can deal with Suthep and those supporting him," Jatuporn Prompan, a UDD leader and senior member of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told thousands of cheering supporters in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of the capital.

It was unclear whether Jatuporn was calling for an armed struggle, but he was speaking just hours after gunmen shot at an anti-government protest stage and threw explosive devices in the Khao Saming district of the eastern province of Trat, killing a five-year-old girl and wounding 41 people.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/23/us-thailand-protest-idUSBREA1M02H20140223