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| Southeast Asia |
| Thais vow to find those behind bombing |
| 2006-03-11 |
| The government vowed Friday to find those responsible for a small bomb that exploded in the capital amid a campaign to force Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power. No one claimed responsibility for Thursday's blast outside the Bangkok home of former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, now the chief adviser to the Thai king. The government has blamed its critics. Thaksin visited Prem at his home to discuss the investigation and later told reporters he believed the attack was carried out by the same group that had planted bombs on at least two other occasions at the offices of anti-government groups. Defense Minister Thammarak Isarangura Na Ayutthaya blamed 'people with ill intentions who want the political situation to get worse. They want the already-tense atmosphere to explode.' Demonstrations against Thaksin that have drawn tens of thousands of people have so far been nonviolent. Both sides have appealed for calm ahead of snap elections set for April 2 that the opposition has vowed to boycott. The opposition was wary of assigning blame for the bombing, which injured a British tourist. 'One thing we can say is that the bomber meant to create a state of confusion amid the political tension,' said Ong-art Klampaiboon, spokesman of the main opposition Democrat party. 'The blast could have been an effort to discredit the government or to threaten anti-government protesters and the opposition.' The movement to force Thaksin from office swelled last month after his family announced the sale of its 49.6 percent stake in Shin Corp. to Singapore's Temasek Holdings for $1.9 billion. The sale was the biggest ever of a publicly owned Thai company. Temasek is the investment arm of the Singapore government. On Friday, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission fined Thaksin's 26-year-old son, Phantongtae Shinawatra, nearly $150,000 for failing to fully disclose transactions related to his Shin stocks before selling them to Temasek. Critics of the deal allege the sale involved insider trading and tax dodges and complain that key national assets - including the country's communications satellites - are now in the hands of a foreign government. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |