BANGKOK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Thailand's army-appointed government has cleared all 19 people arrested last week on suspicion of being behind New Year's Eve bombs that killed three people in the capital, a general said on Saturday.

"All of them have been released because we don't have evidence they were involved in the bombs," Lieutenant-General Prayudh Janocha, commander of the army's central region, told Reuters.

The men, a mixture of civilians, police and military, were arrested in and around Bangkok last weekend, and could only be held for seven days under martial law, he added.

The Council for National Security, as the generals who led a Sept. 19 coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra call themselves, have implied that Thaksin, or soldiers or police still loyal to him, were behind the blasts.

Thaksin, a former police officer, has denied any links to the bombs, which also wounded 38 people and sent shockwaves through the country.

Some analysts say the bombs could have been the work of Muslim separatist rebels from southern Thailand, although throughout a three-year campaign of bombings and shootings, they have never strayed far beyond their immediate region.

On Friday, King Bhumibol Adulyadej approved the lifting of martial law in Bangkok and nearby provinces two months after the interim government announced its removal in an attempt to deflect international criticism of the coup.

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