Bangkok--Seven people, including an Italian girl, were injured when a car exploded in a shopping mall car park on the popular Thai tourist island of Samui, police and officials said Saturday.
It was not immediately clear if the blast was an accident or a deliberate act.
The explosion occurred on Friday night in the basement car park of Central Festival mall on Samui island as late-night shoppers were still inside the building.
"It is not clear whether it was a car bomb or a gas explosion. The bomb squad will investigate this morning," said colonel Apichart Boonsriroj, police commander of Surat Thani province on the mainland.
"Seven people were slightly injured after being hit by shrapnel," he said, adding they had been released from hospital.
A Samui official said six of the injured were Thai and the seventh was a 12-year-old Italian girl.
"Six Thais and a 12-year-old girl were treated for minor injuries," said Poonsak Sophonsasmorong of the island's disaster prevention office.
Samui is popular tourist island in the Gulf of Thailand.
The kingdom's junta is desperate to woo tourists after a year of bad news following a coup in May last year.
Around 20 million visitors flock to Thailand each year and are a key part of the economy.
The military lifted martial law last week but maintained sweeping security powers citing the threat of political unrest.
Authorities are also battling a festering insurgency in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia, which has claimed more than 6,300 lives in a decade.
Rebels, who are seeking greater autonomy, have not launched attacks in tourist areas outside if the South.
AFP
