Grenade wounds 8 Thai protesters ahead of rally

By Orathai Sriring

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A grenade blast wounded eight protesters near the Thai prime minister's office on Saturday, raising tensions on the eve of a major rally billed as a "final battle" to oust the government.

Two of the eight wounded members of the People's Alliance for Democracy were in critical condition after the early morning blast near Government House, occupied by the PAD since August.

"An M-79 grenade exploded 50 metres outside our camp and wounded our brothers as they patrolled nearby," PAD co-leader and retired general Chamlong Srimuang told supporters.

The PAD is calling Sunday's march on parliament "its final battle" to oust the government, which it blames for a grenade attack on their Bangkok protest site on Thursday that killed one person and wounded 23.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat -- who the PAD accuse of being a puppet of exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law -- has denied any involvement in the grenade blast.

Somchai is attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru until the latter half of next week.

Police are braced for violence at the rally and have asked the army for reinforcements to prevent a repeat of last month's bloody street battles, in which two people were killed and hundreds wounded.

"Judging from the tone of their speech, they want to incite violence and we will have to find ways to avoid it," Major General Anan Srihiran of the Metropolitan Police Bureau told Reuters on Friday.