State of Emergency

BANGKOK—(UPDATE) A building in Thailand's education ministry complex is ablaze after being hit by petrol bombs, a security guard said Monday as anti-government protests raged in the capital.

"There were several bomb blasts at 5 p.m. (1000 GMT) and suddenly the fire broke out," security guard Pradap Wongdara told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Protesters hurled pavement slabs into the building first and then followed by throwing several molotov cocktails," he said.

The ministry is located next to the Royal Plaza, where hundreds of troops were being deployed late Monday.

Earlier in the day, trucks carrying hundreds of troops moved into an area near the prime minister's office in Bangkok, the main site where thousands of protesters have gathered, an AFP photographer said.

Dozens of protesters who had been stationed in the area, Royal Plaza, left quickly as the soldiers moved in and headed towards the central protest centre at Government House less than one kilometer away.

A senior military official confirmed that the troops had moved in, saying that the aim was to "contain protesters in one single spot and prevent more protesters from going in."

He said there were now up to 4,000 protesters in front of Government House.