Bombing in BKK!!!!

Suspicion falls on Thaksin allies

New Year's Eve bombings were organised by figures within the previous regime: Surayud, Sonthi


People who lost power when the Thaksin Shinawa-tra regime was overthrown were behind the string of bombs in Bangkok on Sunday - not insurgents from the South, Prime Minister Surayud Chula-nont and junta chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday.


Four former aides and top officials to Thaksin, including the former PM's Secretary Dr Prommin Lertsuridej and former deputy PM Chidchai Vanasatidya, have been summoned for questioning.


But none has reported to the authorities so far.


The Council for National Security planned to train owners of petrol stations, super-markets and factories, plus their workers, as security guards to help prevent what Sonthi called the "new threat" in urban areas.


"The military has been trained to handle this type of threat and urban sabotage for two years since we have known it could happen in our country," he said.


"We've got some links to the masterminds but never expected they would do something like this. They wanted to hurt the economy, spoil political and social stability," Sonthi said.


Eight bombs went off in several areas of Bangkok on New Year's Eve, killing three people and injuring 37, including nine foreigners.


"The bombers were ill-intentioned people who want to create a political impact. I would like all Thais to be aware of their intentions and that they want to create a scenario of politically instability in Thailand," Surayud said during a press conference at the office of Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).


Prime Minister Surayud called an Isoc meeting with all concerned security agencies to discuss the situation while Sonthi - just back from the Hajj in Saudi Arabia - called a CNS meeting yesterday.


Officials have beefed up security at public places in the capital, including the new airport and bus terminals, as a lot of people are due to return from trips to see their families today and tomorrow.


Surayud said his claim was based on evidence - residue in the explosives, plus the location and timing of the blasts.


However, he refused to say clearly whether "the people who lost political benefits" referred to followers of the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra or not.


The pattern of explosions and situation suggested the bombs in Bangkok were not linked to on-going violence in the deep South, Sonthi said.


"The militants are in trouble, even in Yala. I don't think they would come here as they could get lost in Bangkok," Sonthi told reporters.


Thaksin, who is now in exile and currently in China, strongly denied insinuations he was involved in the deadly bomb blasts. He suggested it may have been the work of Muslim separatists from the deep South, his lawyer said.


"Thaksin strongly rejects the allegations and said that his government, which came from the people, would not hurt its people," Noppadon Pattama said.


"The government should not rush to conclusions by trying to relate the attacks to previous governments. It is totally unfair and untrue," he said.


Noppadon said Thaksin warned coup leader General Sonthi some time ago to keep a close watch on militants from the far South in case they carried out bomb attacks in Bangkok.

failed to provide any evidence to back up its claims

"So, there are only those inside the country left -- the civilians, police and armed forces both in khaki and green,"

Police accused of failing to protect public
Street cleaners 'swept away bomb evidence'

AMPA SANTIMATANEEDOL

Police have come under a barrage of criticism for alleged inefficiency and failure to ensure public safety after eight bombs hit Bangkok and Nonthaburi province on New Year's Eve.


Central Institute of Forensic Science acting director Porntip Rojanasunan lashed out at police for barring her team from collecting evidence from a bombing site in Pratunam late on Sunday night, although she had been ordered to do so by Council for National Security chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin.


"Our team could not get to the crime scene," she said.


Khunying Porntip said police at the scene of the attack were unprofessional because they mainly focused on the type of bomb that was used, rather than the bombers, and let city cleaners clean the site before collection of evidence was completed.


Pratunam was one of the seven areas hit by explosions in Bangkok. The eighth bomb was set off in neighbouring Nonthaburi.


National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member Chamlong Srimuang also condemned the police.


"The incidents prove Thai police are inefficient. They should know public safety is the direct responsibility of police. They have not managed to make a single arrest following recent school fires," he said, referring to fires in the northern and northeastern provinces.


Maj-Gen Chamlong urged the government to order a police reshuffle right away. "It should be done within days, otherwise the country will not survive. They must be replaced by trustworthy persons immediately," he said.


Another NLA member Sangsit Piriyarangsan yesterday blamed the bombings on supporters of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and called on the government to seize the assets of Mr Thaksin's family.


Former Democrat party leader Chuan Leekpai believes that the bombings had a political motive and linked them to the school arson attacks over the past few months.


Mr Thaksin had used money and power to create a strong network of supporters during his five years in office and the current government should have removed all the people close to him from powerful positions, said Mr Chuan.


"The old power clique still has a strong footing and keeps burning schools," he said.


Campaign for Popular Democracy secretary-general Suriyasai Katasila agreed, saying the New Year's Eve bombings were obviously politically motivated. He said both their timing and locations indicated they were.

Who was in charge of security and protection, army and police. Who would want evidence preserved to investigate, army and police. Unless of course you don't won't any evidence, don't know why?

Two explosions in northern Bangkok

(BangkokPost.com)
Two explosions occurred early on Tuesday morning along the main road in northern Bangkok. There were no casualties reported in the blasts near the Daily News newspaper and Rama Gardens Hotel Bangkok.

The blasts are suspected to be grenades, probably fired from a military-type grenade launcher from the Don Muang Tollway, which runs above the Viphavadee Rangsit road, where the explosions occurred.

One went off around 1 a.m. just in front of the Daily News newspaper building, which is about 200 metres back from the main roadway. It blew a hole about 30 cm (one foot) wide in the ground.

The second blast, not long after, occurred about 30 metres from the first, in the parking lot of the Rama Gardens Hotel. It blew out most of the lights in the parking area, and caused a foot-wide crack in a wall.

At both scenes, police found explosive debris, which they were analysing this morning. Officers and bomb squad members said they believed the explosives were "projectile devices fired from a launcher on the Tollway."

The blasts bore little resemblance to the bombing waves on New Year's Eve, but were likely to increase pressure on authorities to solve that dealing incident.

The New Year's bombings involved actual time bombs, set in public areas to go off when large numbers of people were around. They killed three Thais and wounded more than 40 Thai and foreign bystanders.

The attacks this morning likely were by grenades. While they landed at public areas, they were fired at a time and place when both damage and casualties were likely to be light. In the event, they caused only superficial damage and no known casualties.

The Thai military and elite police forces have thousands of grenade launchers in their inventory.

The standard M40 grenade launcher and rounds can be purchased reasonably easily on the weapons black market. Both weapons and ammunition date back to the Vietnam war era, and have become common throughout Thailand and the region.

Such terrorist-type bombing was unknown in Bangkok until New Year's Eve. Through the communist wars of the 1970s and 1980s, and the southern separatist violence which has flared for 30 years, there has been no associated violence in the capital.

Attack was meant to 'intimidate the media'

Daily News executive Pracha Hetrakul described yesterday's bomb attack on his newspaper office as an attempt to intimidate the media in general.


The bomb blast erupted in the compound of Si-Phya Publishing Co, which operates the Thai-language newspaper, at around 1.30am yesterday seconds after another training grenade landed in the Rama Gardens Hotel's car park next door.


The blasts caused minor damage, but no casualties.


"I believe this is intimidation against the media," Pracha said, adding there were no reports or opinion pieces in the Daily News that could have singled it out as a target for attack.


He said if such intimidation tactics worked, the people would lose because the media delivered information to them.


Democrat Party's secretary general Suthep Thaugsuban also believed the bomb blast at the Daily News office was intended to intimidate media circles.


"We must condemn such intimidation," he said.


Without naming anyone, Suthep said the person who used to be in power might have been upset that the media did not kow-tow to him anymore. "That person controlled the media for five or six years," Suthep said.


An informed source also revealed that before the coup took place, Surayud - who was then a privy councillor - once asked an executive of the Daily News to arrange a meeting between him, the then deputy premier, and the Thai Rak Thai's deputy leader Somkid Jatusripitak.


The source said when the pair met Surayud said he thought Somkid was an appropriate choice for the post of prime minister.


As of press time yesterday, police were still trying to determine who fired the two training grenades into the Daily News office and the hotel's car park - from where and why.


"We have yet to determine the cause of the bomb attacks," Assistant National Police Commissioner Lt General Jongrak Juthanont said.


There are also differing opinions as to where the grenades were fired.


While an investigation team at the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) believed the grenades were fired from the elevated Don Muang tollway, another team at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) suggested the grenades might have been fired from a deserted school next to the Daily News office.


The MPB team said they were pursuing leads from video recordings retrieved from a surveillance camera. It said the recordings showed a car suspiciously slowed down on a portion of the Don Muang tollway at the time the two grenades could have been launched from there to the two targets below.


"There were not many vehicles on the tollway at that time. We should be able to track down the owner of the suspicious vehicle," an informed source quoted an investigator as saying.


According to the source, the crucial recordings showed the driver of the suspicious car and its registration plate.


Because inspections at the blast scenes pointed to an M79 grenade launcher being used in the attacks, the source said investigators were looking into which agencies possessed such a launcher.


"The person who fired the grenades must have been an expert too. Based on the information from a security guard, the two blasts went off just 10 seconds apart," the source said.


So far, the CSD team said it was more likely that the grenades were launched from a deserted school building next to the office.


"Local people said they heard dogs barking in the middle of the night, followed by the bomb blasts," the team said.


Thung Song Hong police station's inspector Lt Col Manit Kasemsiri, believed the blasts did not cause serious damage because they were only training grenades.


National Police Chief General Kowit Watana also inspected the scene. "I have reported the incident to the Council for National Security. I have ordered police officers to step up security measures," he said.


He also called on people to watch out and alert the authorities if they detect anything suspicious.


Currently, police have yet to complete their investigation into eight bombs in the heart of Bangkok on New Year's Eve in which three people were killed and dozens more injured.


Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont declined to comment on the cause of yesterday's bomb blasts. "Police will investigate and identify suspects," he said.


He insisted the latest bomb blasts would not prompt the government to re-impose martial law in Bangkok. Martial law was removed last Friday.