Thai police thwart bomb plot against Thaksin

By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai police said on Thursday they had
thwarted an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who promptly fired a top security aide whose driver
they said was caught in a car with the makings of a huge bomb.

Police displayed 67.5 kg (149 lb) of ammonium nitrate
fertilizer blended with fuel oil, nearly 5 kg (11 lb) of TNT,
1.6 kg (3.5 lb) of powdered C4, a plastic explosive, and a
remote control circuit.

“The bomb was ready to explode. The circuit was completely
connected. There were seven sandbags to be used to steer the
explosion in the direction of the prime minister’s motorcade,”
government spokesman Surawong Suebwonglee told a news
conference.

It would have caused damage in a radius of 1 km (1,000
yards), an area which included a school, he said.

Police at the scene had described what they found
differently.

“What we found was urea fertilizer packed in a 10-gallon
jerry can that could be made into a bomb, but the bomb had not
been put together,” one said.

“We doused it with water from high-pressure hoses,” Colonel
Sathorn Saisomboon told Reuters after roads in the busy area
were closed to traffic.

Police said they had followed the driver for several days
and detained him after he parked a car at a busy intersection
near Thaksin’s house in Bangkok.

An army lieutenant, who according to police identified
himself as the driver of General Pallop Pinmanee, deputy
director of the powerful Internal Security Operations Command,
was detained. He has been charged with illegal possession of
explosive materials.

Police quoted the man, identified as Lt. Thawatchai
Klinchana, as saying he had no idea what was in the car and was
driving it to an address nearby at the request of a friend.

Thaksin promptly fired Pallop, who proclaimed his
innocence.

“Yes, I signed an order to fire him,” said Thaksin, who has
been fighting a campaign to oust him since late last year led
by foes accusing him of corruption and abuse of power, charges
he denies.

FANNING FEARS

Pallop told reporters he had nothing to do with any plot,
but that if he had wanted Thaksin dead, he would be dead.

“It’s impossible that I would assassinate the prime
minister. If had wanted to do it, I would have done it more
subtly,” said the retired soldier who fought in Vietnam and
Laos during the Vietnam War.

“If I had wanted to kill him, the prime minister would not
have escaped.”

The discovery of the alleged plot came just days after
scuffles between foes and backers of Thaksin at two public
appearances in Bangkok in which several people were injured.

It fanned fears the campaign for an October 15 general
election which opened officially on Thursday might turn ugly in
a country with a long history of coups and attempted coups,
although none since 1991.

The fears helped push the main Thai stock index, which has
suffered in the prolonged political crisis, down nearly one
percent.

Top security officials held an emergency meeting on
tightening security around Thaksin, government spokesman
Surapong Suebwonglee told reporters.

“We will take some measures to prevent any further
violence,” he said.

Thaksin called a snap general election in April to counter
a street campaign to oust him which grew in strength after his
family sold their stake in the corporation he founded for a
tax-free $1.9 billion in January.

But a boycott by the main opposition parties meant it was
inconclusive. The courts ruled it unlawful, leaving Thailand
with a caretaker government unable to make major policy
decisions and no functioning parliament, and ordered a re-run.

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Tul Pinkaew
and Pracha Hariraksapitak)