Thailand’s military regime has wasted no time at all in blaming Thaksin supporters for the Bangkok bombings. And their rather bizarre message is having an effect in the international media. The Sydney Morning Herald’s international news leads with “Thaksin supporters linked to bombs;” the New York Times carries Supporters of Thai Ex-Premier Blamed for Blasts; the BBC has “Thai PM blames rivals for blast;” the Straights Times leads with:
Thailand’s junta chief on Monday blamed politicians from the country’s ousted government for the deadly bombings that rocked Bangkok on New Year’s Eve and warned more attacks were possible.
And even my Yahoo morning welcome message carried “Ousted Thai PM backers eyed in bombings.”
11 responses so far ↓
1 patiwat // Jan 2, 2007 at 9:16 am
The ANFO bombs seem technically similar to the car bomb found outside Thaksin’s house late last year. The investigation into the car bomb was dropped by the junta. Is anybody investigating the ISOC?
2 patiwat // Jan 2, 2007 at 9:28 am
This reminds me of when the Spanish government lied to its people and claimed that the ETA, rather than Islamic terrorists, were responsible for the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
3 nganadeeleg // Jan 2, 2007 at 10:37 am
I dont want to add to the speculation, but it is a worry when the police seem to obstruct the forensic investigation:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/02Jan2007_news09.php
4 David Mc // Jan 2, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Glad to see Patiwat mentioned the car bomb outside Thaksin’s house, also, let’s not forget the bomb outside Prem’s house in March 2006 also.
5 saoneua // Jan 2, 2007 at 6:33 pm
And the bombing of the mosque in Chiang Mai yesterday that killed someone person
6 patiwat // Jan 3, 2007 at 5:09 am
Police claim that the Muslim janitor of the mosque confessed to making the Chiang Mai bomb.
This raises quite a few possibilities, all of them quite troubling:
1. Muslim insurgents are behind both the Chiang Mai bombings and the Bangkok bombings. They are using Muslims of all races, not just southerners, to execute their plans. They have extensive local networks. They bombed the mosque in Chiang Mai to deflect blame away from themselves.
2. Muslim insurgents are behind the Chiang Mai bombings, but someone else was behind the Bangkok bombings. The insurgents are merely taking advantage of the situation to create unrest, but also want to deflect blame away from themselves.
3. The police tortured or forced the confession out of the mosque janitor. The junta wants the bombing(s) to appear to be the work of either insurgents or Northerners.
7 chris White // Jan 3, 2007 at 7:07 pm
I’m with patiwat on this one. The claim that it they were 100% sure that it was not the fault of the Southern Insurgents came much too fast. It is all much too cute.
I’m happy to add to the speculation and I’ll be putting my money on the culprits as being elements associated with the military or ISOC.
8 Jotman // Jan 4, 2007 at 2:52 am
A recent posting at jotman.com entitled “Thai-Style Propaganda Headlines” provides a follow-up to this observation by Andrew.
9 polo // Jan 4, 2007 at 3:38 am
Two paras from Asia Times article:
“Yet a thorough and independent investigation into the bombings should also include a probe into the possibility that renegade elements inside the CNS itself may have masterminded the crude attacks to discredit new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and provide Byzantine justification for a counter coup action that ousts Surayud’s interim civilian administration and ushers in a period of total military control.”
(….)
“The New Year’s Eve bombings will also provide strong new justification for the establishment of the CNS’s 14,000-strong “Special Operations Force”, a new secretive security force comprised of army and police officials aimed nominally at maintaining peace, law and order across the country, but which critics fear will be mobilized to ferret out and crush political dissent against military rule. Notably, the 556 million baht (US$15.3 million) earmarked last week by the cabinet for the controversial new security force came under strong media criticism just days before the bombings.”
10 fall // Jan 4, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Polo, good point.
11 New Mandala » Southern insurgents now prime suspects // Mar 19, 2007 at 12:21 pm
[...] happened, I wonder, to the “evidence” that ”old political power clique” was behind the bombings? Was there every any evidence [...]
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