Thai police thwart bomb plot against Thaksin

BANGKOK - Thai police said yesterday they had thwarted an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who promptly fired a top security aide whose driver they said was caught in a car with the makings of a huge bomb.

Police displayed 67.5 kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer blended with fuel oil, nearly 5 kg of TNT, 1.6 kg of powdered C4, a plastic explosive, and a remote control circuit.

"The bomb was ready to explode. The circuit was completely connected. There were seven sandbags to be used to steer the explosion in the direction of the prime minister's motorcade," government spokesman Surawong Suebwonglee told a news conference.

It would have caused damage in a radius of 1 km, an area which included a school, he said.

Police at the scene had described what they found differently.

"What we found was urea fertilizer packed in a 10-gallon jerry can that could be made into a bomb, but the bomb had not been put together," one said.

"We doused it with water from high-pressure hoses," Colonel Sathorn Saisomboon told Reuters after roads in the busy area were closed to traffic.

Police said they had followed the driver for several days and detained him after he parked a car at a busy intersection near Thaksin's house in Bangkok.

An army lieutenant, who according to police identified himself as the driver of General Pallop Pinmanee, deputy director of the powerful Internal Security Operations Command, was detained. He has been charged with illegal possession of explosive materials.

Police quoted the man, identified as Lt. Thawatchai Klinchana, as saying he had no idea what was in the car and was driving it to an address nearby at the request of a friend.

Thaksin promptly fired Pallop, who proclaimed his innocence.

"Yes, I signed an order to fire him," said Thaksin, who has been fighting a campaign to oust him since late last year led by foes accusing him of corruption and abuse of power, charges he denies.

Fanning fears

Pallop told reporters he had nothing to do with any plot, but that if he had wanted Thaksin dead, he would be dead.

"It's impossible that I would assassinate the prime minister. If had wanted to do it, I would have done it more subtly," said the retired soldier who fought in Vietnam and Laos during the Vietnam War.

"If I had wanted to kill him, the prime minister would not have escaped."

The discovery of the alleged plot came just days after scuffles between foes and backers of Thaksin at two public appearances in Bangkok in which several people were injured.

It fanned fears the campaign for an October 15 general election which opened officially on Thursday might turn ugly in a country with a long history of coups and attempted coups, although none since 1991.

The fears helped push the main Thai stock index, which has suffered in the prolonged political crisis, down nearly one per cent.

Top security officials held an emergency meeting on tightening security around Thaksin, government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee told reporters.

"We will take some measures to prevent any further violence," he said.

Thaksin called a snap general election in April to counter a street campaign to oust him which grew in strength after his family sold their stake in the corporation he founded for a tax-free $1.9 billion in January.

But a boycott by the main opposition parties meant it was inconclusive. The courts ruled it unlawful, leaving Thailand with a caretaker government unable to make major policy decisions and no functioning parliament, and ordered a re-run.

- REUTERS