Seven people have been killed by a World War Two bomb that had lain dormant in a Bangkok building site, after it was accidentally detonated by construction workers.
At least 19 others have been injured by the blast that tore through a recycling scrapyard in Bangkok's Lad Prao district, damaging buildings and homes nearby.
Police bomb squad chief Kamthorn Auicharoen told reporters that construction workers had found the 500-pound shell at a building site and sold it to the scrapyard, believing the bomb had been defused.
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A Thai fireman stands inside a scrap metal warehouse after a massive World War II bomb exploded in Bangkok
"It's likely this is a bomb dropped from a plane during World War Two," he said.
Scrapyard workers had begun to cut the bomb apart using a gas-powered thermal cutter when it exploded.
The massive blast ripped apart the scrapyard in Bangkok's Lad Prao district and damaged nearby houses.
"It's likely this is a bomb dropped from a plane during world war two," said Kamthorn.
Bangkok was bombed by both Britain and the US when it was occupied by Japan in 1941. Thailand was the headquarters for the Japanese occupation of south-east Asia, and was a base to invade the British-held Malaya and Burma.