Thailand's powerful army chief today asked all warring parties to hold talks after last week's violence which claimed four lives, even as a blast near the main anti-government rally site injured two persons.
In a rare television address on military-run Channel 5, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha asserted that the army had no intention of playing an active role in forcing a solution to the ongoing political strife plaguing the country for the last three months with anti-government protesters calling for Yingluck Shinawatra government to quit.
Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck, in a separate interview, said there was nothing better than all sides coming together.
"When violence is used, the pain will eventually be felt by the nation," she said.
Yingluck, however, refused to resign as demanded by anti-government protesters, saying it would create a political vacuum.
When asked what she would do if there was a coup and she was held, Yingluck said she would fight and do her job till the last minute, the Nation reported.
With her eyes brimming with tears and her voice trembling, she said: "I am staying on to protect democracy."
Two persons were injured in an explosion near the main anti-government rally site of Lumpini Park early this morning,
The weekend saw two attacks as on Saturday in eastern Trat province a child was killed and over 30 injured when unidentified men threw grenades and indiscriminately fired at people.
The next day a grenade was lobbed close to an anti- government rally site in downtown Bangkok killing two children and a woman while injuring more than 20 people.
The UNICEF has urged protesters not to take children to rally sites.
Army chief Prayuth, reading from a prepared statement, said it was the government that had the primary duty to stop people using violence.
He believed some of those behind the violence were linked to attacks during the 2010 protests by pro-government "Red Shirts".
Thailand has seen months of anti-government protests, often violent, aimed at ousting Yingluck and curbing the political dominance of the Shinawatra clan.
The protesters accuse Yingluck of acting as a proxy for her fugitive brother, former premier Thaksin who was ousted in a coup in 2006. He lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to escape a jail term on a corruption conviction.
