A suspected World War II bomb exploded in the Thai capital today as scrap metal workers tried to cut it open with a blow torch. Seven people died and 19 were injured, police said.

Construction workers found the bomb at a construction site and took it to a warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok to be cut up.

Pools of blood and body parts were scattered on the floor of the warehouse.

Reuters camera footage showed just the shell of the building remained, its interior a mesh of twisted metal as firefighters doused flames and burning embers.

Allied bombing raids on Bangkok began in 1942. Japan was using the country as a staging post for its invasions of then-Burma and Malaya.

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