Pairoj / AFP/Getty ImagesA Thai soldier inspects the damaged vehicle of Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of the People's Alliance of Democracy (PAD), in Bangkok. The Thai activist, who led a blockade of the kingdom's main airports last year, was shot and wounded in the head Friday morning in an assassination attempt the government said was aimed at inciting fresh unrest.
Amid street violence that claimed two lives and injured up to 100, prime minister also calls for probe in attempted assassination of protest leader.
By Charles McDermid and Jakkapun Kaewsangthong
April 17, 2009
Reporting from Bangkok -- The prime minister of Thailand extended a state of emergency today and vowed to launch an investigation into the assassination attempt on a prominent protest leader that occurred here earlier in the day.
The early-morning ambush of Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai media mogul and founder of the movement that toppled the previous Thai government, could dash hopes that Thailand will return to normalcy in the wake of violent street battles Monday that left at least two dead and as many as 100 wounded.
"We will continue applying the state of emergency, but for as short a period as possible, in order to restore peace and normalcy in Bangkok and its vicinities," Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajive said in a televised address.
Unknown gunmen in an unlicensed pickup truck opened up on Sondhi's vehicle with automatic weapons at around 5 a.m. as he was heading to work to host a television program. Eyewitness Jinttana Damrong, a 56-year-old food vendor, was setting up her stall when the brazen attack took place.
"I went out to prepare food as usual. Suddenly, I heard the sound of car speed up and then they started shooting. It was like an action movie they kept shooting nonstop. I told my son to hide, then I ran to hide."
Major Gen. King Kwangvisetchaichai said the assailants first aimed to shoot out the car's tires before riddling it with as many as 100 bullets. Sondhi, who founded the protest movement known as the People's Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, was shot in the shoulder and had a bullet surgically removed from his skull, according to reports.
Sondhi's secretary and driver were also injured by the gunfire. Sondhi has now moved from Vajira Hospital to an undisclosed facility under police protection.
Police say they recovered 84 bullet casings from AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles. A dud M-79 shell fired from the attackers was also found, according to local media.
"I have already ordered authorities to check how it is that war weapons emerged and were used in the capital," Abhisit said in his address.
Battlefield weapons were seen across downtown Bangkok on Monday as government troops dislodged red-shirted anti-government forces from sites they occupied around the capital, including their last redoubt at Government House, the office of the prime minister.
The street battles capped a week of violent protest in which the so-called "red shirts" - supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- stormed a key regional summit, forcing its cancellation and the airlift evacuation of several Southeast Asian heads of state. Some 3,000 remaining protesters surrendered to the government on Tuesday morning even as some of the movement's leaders vowed to intensify their struggle from underground.
Thaksin-aligned parliamentarian Worawut Ua-apinyakul was quoted in the local press on Thursday saying that the protesters would unleash a "covert struggle."
Sondhi's PAD movement has been instrumental in toppling two Thaksin-aligned governments, most recently in late 2008 when PAD's "yellow shirts" overran Bangkok 's two international airports. Part of the "red shirts" demands, along with the resignation of Abhisit, has been the prosecution of the ringleaders of the airport seizures. Sondhi and Thaksin are former business partners and, according to reports, former friends.
Thaksin, a billionaire telecom tycoon, has given a spate of interviews in international media in recent days. He has called for a "people revolution" to overthrow the Abhisit government and also promised his return.
According to a Tuesday report by Thailand analyst Shawn Crispin, "operatives had for the past two years funneled arms through Cambodia to Thaksin-aligned supporters in the country's northeastern provinces, where his grass-roots support runs strongest."
PAD has thus far remained silent in the escalating political crisis.
"As far as I know, at this time we won't move yet. The leaders have said we will move when it is the right time," said Pattama Deemee, a 48-year-old Bangkok business owner and PAD supporter. "In my opinion this is the beginning of underground activity meant to make us feel unsafe. This is a hard game for Abhisit and the Thai people. We will never know what will happen next."
McDermid and Kaewsangthong are special correspondents
No comments:
Post a Comment