BANGKOK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of bomb explosions in Bangkok on New Year Eve rose to three when another victim died during a surgery Monday morning.

    Ekkachai Ruangpoom, 26, died at the King Mongkut Hospital during an operation, according to the web edition of local newspaper the Nation.

    EKkachai was injured by an explosion at the Victory Monument.

    A series of bombs exploded across the city and its suburbs on early Sunday night, and two more bombings hit a shopping area in downtown Bangkok shortly after midnight.

    The bombings also injured some 40 others, including ten foreigners.

    Hundreds of thousands of tourists and residents in Bangkok Sunday night were bracing for New Year's Eve festivities to welcome the year 2007 when a series of bomb attacks rocked the country's capital.

    The agencies held a meeting at the Internal Security Operations Command head office late Sunday night, trying to find out who made the bombings, but failed to establish the culprits, the Nation said.

    Thai Army Commander-in-Chief and chairman of the military Council for National Security (CNS) Sonthi Boonyaratkalin cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and will return to Bangkok Monday afternoon.

    News network The Nation on its website quoted a source as saying that Sonthi, will chair a CNS meeting at the Army headquarters in central Bangkok on Monday afternoon.

    Sonthi, a Muslim, left for Saudi Arabia on Thursday as a government representative in a pilgrimage tour to the holy city of Mecca.

    The embassies of some countries here have warned their nationals to avoid public areas in Bangkok and other parts of the country after a series of bombings hit Bangkok and surrounding areas on the New Year's Eve and shortly after midnight, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported on Monday.