Thai police question 3 more Iranians in alleged bomb plot

Feb. 14, 2012: A Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) official examines the bomb site in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP2012)

BANGKOK – Thai investigators questioned three more Iranian citizens Monday for possible links to an alleged bomb plot that was discovered in Bangkok on Valentine's Day.

National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Piya Uthayo said that two men and one woman were found Sunday during a search of an apartment in the capital that had been rented by an Iranian woman who is also wanted in the case.

The alleged plot was discovered after an accidental explosion ripped through a Bangkok house that police said had been used by the would-be bombers. All three men seen fleeing the house have been detained, and Thai authorities have issued arrest warrants for two more Iranians who are believed to have returned to Tehran.

Piya said the three being questioned Monday had not yet been arrested.

One of the those questioned was 33-year-old Madani Seyed Mehrded, Piya said. He said Mehrded had been in contact with other detained suspects, including an Iranian man who blew his legs off by mistake as he fled police on Feb. 14.

Immigration police chief Police Lt. Gen. Wiboon Bangthamai later told reporters that two of the three questioned Monday had been released. Mehrded is still being held, but Wiboon said he had denied being involved in a bomb plot.

There is speculation the suspects planned attacks as part of a covert battle being waged over Iran's alleged quest to develop nuclear weapons.

The explosions in Bangkok came a day after attacks in India and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in which bombers tried to hit Israeli targets with bombs that attach magnetically to vehicles.