“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.”

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.

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.