Thai PM Blames Politicians For Bombs, Not Muslims
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Courtesy Of: Reuters
Mon Jan 1, 2007 8:20am ET
By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's military-installed government blamed former politicians on Monday for a series of bombs that killed three people in Bangkok, wounded 38, including nine foreigners, and ruined New Year celebrations.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said intelligence pointed to politicians who had lost power, not Muslim militants waging a separatist insurgency in the far south, but admitted the government did not know who was responsible.

Surayud declined to say what evidence pointed to former politicians less than five months after a bloodless coup ousted twice-elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose supporters he said might have been involved.

The government ruled out any foreign hand in the unprecedented attacks in the Thai capital.

"We could not at this stage pinpoint which particular group was involved," said Surayud, installed after the September 19 coup."

Briefs from various intelligence agencies, based on evidence available, show that they came from groups that have lost political powers," he told a news conference as police and soldiers mounted a major security operation.

"These were not just the previous government, but include all those which have lost power in the past," he added

....Involvement of Muslim militants, whose insurgency has cost more than 1,800 lives over the past three years but has remained confined to the far south, was a "very remote possibility", Surayud said.

TIGHT SECURITY

Coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thailand's first Muslim army chief who cut short his Haj and returned to Bangkok on Monday, ruled out any links to foreign terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

Security analyst Panitan Wattanayagorn said the bombings appeared to be locally planned and politically motivated, perhaps by those facing corruption probes by the post-coup government.

"Their aim may be to destabilize the government to make sure the accusations against them are dropped or negotiated," the Chulalongkorn University lecturer told Reuters.

Since Thaksin was ousted and his administration scrutinized by graft busters, several schools have been torched outside Bangkok and martial law kept in several areas because of what the army calls "undercurrents".

...Police and soldiers set up 6,000 checkpoints across the city of nine million people and its suburbs after what deputy national police chief General Achiravit Supanpasat said was the worst attack in Bangkok in his 40-year career.

Police with sniffer dogs patrolled stations on the urban mass transit system.

...All eight of the small New Year's Eve time-bombs were made of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and triggered by digital watches.

Some were planted in areas likely to cause deaths -- outside a shopping mall, in an open-air market -- and some were not, like one in the parking lot of another mall. But two later bombs which exploded around midnight would have caused untold mayhem had New Year street parties gone ahead.

They were planted at either end of the broad stretch of road in Bangkok's upscale shopping district where the main party was to have been held.

Nine foreigners were among the wounded -- four Hungarians, three Serbs and two Britons, police said.

With an eye on Thailand's lucrative tourist trade, which lures around 12 million visitors each year, Achiravit said his men would ensure the streets are safe. "We are the police. We know who is good or bad by looking," he said.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Source:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-01-01T132031Z_01_BKK144606_RTRUKOC_0_US-THAILAND-BOMBS.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage3