Bombs 'weaken confidence in govt'

Office of newspaper attacked with grenades

POST REPORTERS

The grenade attack on the office of the Daily News will further undermine public confidence in the government and the Council for National Security (CNS), secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy Suriyasai Katasila said yesterday. Yesterday's attack resembled the ''plot'' of the New Year bombings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi, Mr Suriyasai said.

He said the two blasts were an indication the government and the CNS were incapable of tracking down and arresting the people behind the incidents.

''The investigation process is not working and is not reliable. The government and the CNS are unable to generate confidence among the public any longer,'' Mr Suriyasai said, referring to the recent release of suspects detained in connection with the New Year bombings due to a lack of evidence.

In the early hours of yesterday, one grenade from an M79 launcher exploded outside the Daily News office building and another in a parking area of the adjacent Rama Gardens Hotel on Vibhavadi-Rangsit road in Laksi district.

Police believed the grenades were fired from the nearby tollway and missed their intended targets. There were no casualties.

Forensic police found a hole about 12.5cm wide and 2.5cm deep and metal fragments on an access road leading to the newspaper office. Neon lights nearby had been smashed.

Two holes were found in the wall of a parking area behind the hotel's convention centre. One was about 20cm wide and 2.5cm deep, and the other about 25.5 wide and 5cm deep. Metal shards were scattered all over the area.

A security officer at the Thai-language newspaper said he heard an explosion near the office's entrance about 1am. About 10 seconds later, he saw a flash lnear the wall of the hotel's parking area and heard another explosion.

Initial police findings indicated that the attacks were not aimed at causing damage. The grenades were the type used in military exercises.

Police were gathering information about vehicles passing the tollgates between 12.30am and 2am yesterday.

They also checked footage from closed-circuit TV systems, both on the tollway and at the Daily News.

Pol Col Watcharapong Damrongsri, Thung Song Hong district police chief, said it was very likely the grenades were launched either on a nearby tollway or from behind fences along Vibhavadi-Rangsit road.

Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak Juthanont, assistant national police chief, said it was not known whether the assailants really wanted to attack the Daily News or only to intimidate the newspaper. He said the grenades were fired from an M79 grenade launcher. Bomb experts from the 1st Infantry Regiment (King's Guards) would help determine where the grenades were fired from.

Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak dismissed talk that the attacks were meant to discredit national police chief Pol Gen Kowit Wattana.

Pol Gen Kowit said CNS chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin had been briefed on the incident. Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt-Gen Viroj Chantarangsi had been put in charge of the investigation, the police chief said.

Asked if the bombers would shift their attacks from the public to the press, Pol Gen Kowit said every issue needs equal attention. He ruled out a link between the bombs and any attempt to tarnish his reputation.

The CNS met yesterday and Gen Sonthi promised to continue supporting Pol Gen Kowit, who has come under fire for the slow progress in the investigation into the New Year bombings.

Despite recent reports that the military was sceptical of the police investigation, CNS spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Pol Gen Kowit had breakfast with Gen Sonthi just before the meeting and briefed the CNS chief on progress in the investigation.

In the conference room at army headquarters, Gen Sonthi expressed moral support for the police chief and emphasised that the armed forces and the police would have to demonstrate their unity to restore confidence among the public, said the spokesman.

A Thai Journalists Association statement condemned the attack as barbaric and inhumane and demanded police bring the culprits to justice.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007