Thread: Deadly blast hits Thai capital

Family of dead bomber to get Bt400,000 relief payment

The government is obligated, under the relief regulations issued by emergency rule, to compensate for victims and relatives in violence incidents even though one of the victims is a suspected bomber killed in the Bang Bua Thong blast by the bomb he made.

"The rules on relief payments are designed to compensate the victims without any biases on the role of each victim," Social Development and Human Security Minister Issara Somchai said on Thursday.

Suspected bomber Samai Wongsuwan was killed when the bomb went off accidentally on Tuesday's evening at an apartment building, inflicting four deaths and nine injuries.

Issara said under the relief package, the surviving relatives of four dead victims would entitled to receive Bt400,000 payment each.

The injured needing morethan 20 of hospitalisation would get Bt100,000 each and those with less than 20-day of hosipital stay would receive Bt60,000 each.

Those injured without hospitalisation would get Bt20,000 each.

nationmultimedia.com

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Spin it however you want to spin it. For weeks Jatuporn and others have been claiming the government has been behind the bombings, saying that they were doing so to maintain the emergency decree, as they were draconian and were hanging onto power.

And I still believe that as very likely. This bomb was at least for the Bangkok area a completely new and different thing. The others were small grenades with very limited explosive power.

http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1035813

Red-shirt Leader Denies Movement's Link to Blast

UPDATE : 7 October 2010

Red shirt core leader and Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan rails against ties between the red shirt movement and the recent explosion in Nonthaburi province, claiming the group's adherence to peaceful means.

Jatuporn Prompan, red-shirt core leader and Pheu Thai Party MP, refuted speculation that members of his movement were part of the explosion in a make shift bomb assembly facility in an apartment building in Nonthaburi province.


Jatuporn affirmed that his group's movement is based on civility but conceded that he could not speak for all of its many members as some may have their own grudges.

He called on the group to use restraint, saying that weapons would not bring about their objective.

Jatuporn continued that the government should work more closely with army intelligence units to better monitor the situation.

He elaborated that the nation is now facing different groups of violence instigators, each with its own motive, and called on the Democrat Party to be more devoted to its work to safeguard the public.

The red shirt leader warned that Bangkok could become a city of strife like in the three southern border provinces.

He suggested police work on their own investigations and not hand them over to the Department of Special Investigation, alleging the agency is bogged down by politics.

Jatuporn alleged that the explosion in Nonthaburi may have been staged to justify the recent arrests of 11 men in Chiang Mai.

He claimed one of the four casualties in the incident was a distant relative of Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

However, has this government embarked on a bombing campaign against its own people? I'd suggest the evidence is pretty obvious now that it hasn't and the UDD have been pulling a confidence trick, that just got very publicly exposed.

OK - now it's your turn. What "evidence is pretty obvious" that it (the amart/govt) hasn't been involved in a bombing/grenade campaign of its own?

designing a fertiliser bomb to blow up reliably is surprisingly hard; which is probably one of the reasons that jihadist's generally don't use them despite the devastation they cause when they do go off.

I suspect that the unexploded fertiliser bombs they have found so far are more to do with the lack of experience with the builder than a desire to intimidate and not kill. Given that the unexploded devices found recently look very similar to devices photographed in the UDD barricades in april/may, it looks like someone within the UDD movement as a design that they are happy with and has been training others to build it.

We have been lucky so far that so far the builders have been incompetent; but I suspect that will end

PT and UDD are being to look more like 911 conspiracy nuts by the day, with these lame excuses and denials.

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

It is the most dangerous tourism destination for Britons and has been for many years and now for Australians too I believe.

it is always nice to repeat statistical truths

if you had looked at the breakdown of the figures, the majority of "danger" seems to come from renting motorbikes, followed by heart attacks

..or being hit by one

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

My suggestion? Both sides are at it. The amart/military faction are behind the grenade attacks at bus stops etc, the reds are learning the canister methods in fields etc. But the grenades (except for those fired in April at yellow/army positions) are the work of the government-supporters.

The problem with using bombs, is that eventually someone gets careless and blows themselves up; leaving a rather devastating trail of evidence, as we have just seen with this departed bomb maker. its politically a very high risk strategy, I just don't see what the army would gain from planting grenades, that they could not achieve by less risky means.

fractions within the UDD had access to and used grenades in april/may; I don't see any reason why they would stop after the army cleared them out; if anything I can see them getting more fired up. And someone in thailand has access to enough M79 grenades to justify the illegal manufacture of 100's of launchers presumably because, unlike the army, they cannot just go out and buy them.

Originally Posted by hazz

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

My suggestion? Both sides are at it. The amart/military faction are behind the grenade attacks at bus stops etc, the reds are learning the canister methods in fields etc. But the grenades (except for those fired in April at yellow/army positions) are the work of the government-supporters.

The problem with using bombs, is that eventually someone gets careless and blows themselves up; leaving a rather devastating trail of evidence, as we have just seen with this departed bomb maker. its politically a very high risk strategy, I just don't see what the army would gain from planting grenades, that they could not achieve by less risky means.

fractions within the UDD had access to and used grenades in april/may; I don't see any reason why they would stop after the army cleared them out; if anything I can see them getting more fired up. And someone in thailand has access to enough M79 grenades to justify the illegal manufacture of 100's of launchers presumably because, unlike the army, they cannot just go out and buy them.

Yes, I remember that story reported in BP

Bangkok Post : More M79 launcher parts seized

And nothing more was said until:

Weapon parts seized in Thailand could be for Burma’s rebels
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
S.H.A.N.

Thai police think the illegally made M79 grenade launcher parts seized in Ayutthaya on 13 March and more in the neighboring Samut Prakan on the next day are for the United Wa State Army (UWSA) that is currently at loggerheads with Burma’s ruling military junta over the Border Guard Force (BGF) deal, according to the news community in Bangkok.

The factory owner Cherdyod Jirawattanarak had reportedly admitted that he had already delivered over 1,000 of the parts to the arms traffickers. Police found 600 completed parts for the M79 grenade launchers.

Chief of Police Region #1 Krissada Pankongchuen said his investigators had yet to conclude that the seizures were linked to the red shirt demonstrations that began on 13 March, the same day the seizure was made.

“But the huge quantity of the seizure indicates that they are likely to be more for export than for internal use,” a newsman quoted the police as saying.

Demand for arms and ammo have been on the rise since tensions between the Burma Army and the UWSA were on the rise since last year.

Though they are more easily purchased in China, with which the Wa share a common border, transporting them to the Thai-Burma border through several checkpoints set up by the Burma Army has been an unsolvable problem, according to Wa sources.

shanland.org"

(both originally posted on the TD thread:

https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...arms-like.html (Thai Police Seize 100 Arms-Like Machines Ahead Of Anti-Government Rally)

So the link of the grenade launcher manufacture to the UDD that you infer is pretty tenuous.

Originally Posted by Strontium Dog

Is corruption more widespread? A difficult one to call, but certainly blatant corruption has come more to our attention recently. Such incidents as the airport black shirts suggest that law and order is problematic and sketchy at best. I would suggest that there are a lot of Thaksin/PT supporters amongst the police, which may explain a few things....

The reports I have read suggest that the armed men at the airport were military rather than police. I haven't checked back on this so I may be mistaken. Both police and military may have been involved. Where there is rampant and breathtaking lawbreaking, it seems a fair bet that the military and police will be upholding national honour by getting in on the act.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30139626.html

NONTHABURI BLAST

Police on lookout for man, woman in Muslim headscarf

By The Nation
Published on October 8, 2010


CRES says 4th body at blast site that of prime suspect Samai

A man with a woman in a Muslim headscarf - seen frequently with the tenant of a Nonthaburi apartment room where a powerful explosion occurred on Tuesday - are the latest target of interest in the search for people involved, the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) said yesterday.

"The two people helped carry large bags from a pickup truck to Room 202. We need to verify their identities and locate them," said CRES spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd at a press conference.

The fourth and last body found at the Samarn Metta Mansion belonged to Samai Wongsuwan, who rented Room 202 where the explosion happened, said police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri. Official confirmation of the body's identity is awaiting DNA-based verification.

When announcing the body was Samai's, police relied initially on his inked fingerprints on Chiang Mai police records, following indictments against him for possessing explosives and attempted murder. The prints matched three fingers on a left arm found at the scene.

A DNA test later proved the arm belonged to the body, meaning the fingers were Samai's - based on the police records carrying his fingerprints.

Police have also been told four or five people were seen visiting Samai or entering or exiting the room. Their investigation and interviews of witnesses covered the time when he rented the room around two weeks ago up to hours before the explosion, said deputy police chief Pol General Phanuphong Singhara na Ayutthaya.

"We know their addresses or locations and will soon meet them for interviews, [treating them] as innocent," he said. Phanuphong added that police also had details of vehicles used by visitors to the apartment. One had been linked to certain bomb-related incidents in the past.

Phanuphong said it could take police some time to identify the man and the Muslim-dressed woman and their roles in the incident.

The Department of Special Investigation is expected to make a request soon to take over the apartment bombing case from police, as the incident carried evidence and involved various activities indicating acts of terrorism. DSI director-general Tharit Phengdit repeated the DSI's warning of escalation of violence through underground operations until the year-end.

The DSI have arrested a former paramilitary ranger allegedly serving with a group of infamous "men in black" as the triggerman of an M79 grenade launcher. Aram Saeng-arun was arrested recently while in hiding in Ubon Ratchathani, and was scheduled to be flown to Bangkok last night.

The Interior Ministry yesterday instructed all 76 provincial governors to stay alert and not take leave at least until the end of October, especially those 48 transferred to new provinces.

Two dummy grenades were found 400 metres from the home of Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri in Soi Prachachuen 31 in Bang Sue district before noon yesterday. Prachachuen police doubted it was meant as a bomb threat against the Democrat Party executive because of the distance from his home.

The grenades are US-made vintage model MK-2, with the explosives removed and detonators inactive, used as dummies in Army combat training.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30139640.html

ASK THE EDITOR

Wrong place? Or the right time?

By Tulsathit Taptim
The Nation
Published on October 8, 2010

If the red shirts and their political rivals were to make separate movies about Tuesday's bomb blast at the Samarn Metta Mansion in Nonthaburi, it would be fascinating to find out how they depicted Samai Wongsuwan.

Was the man, who authorities said died at the epicentre of the explosion, at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or did the bomb simply explode at the right time?

Here are a few key questions, to some of which there can be only speculative answers:
Was Room 202 tenant Samai Wongsuwan among the four people killed?

Fact: The police had Samai's fingerprints thanks to an earlier criminal offence he had committed. They matched them with prints of a severed left hand retrieved from the Nonthaburi mansion. The result was positive.

Who was Samai exactly?

Fact: He was a Sing Buri resident before he moved to Chiang Mai to be with his wife. She confirmed that he was an active red-shirt supporter who gone to the capital to join Bangkok protests. She said he returned home shortly before the Rajdamnoen crackdown and told her that he had to go away for a while. He also faced an arrest warrant for a relatively minor blast in Chiang Mai. The Nonthaburi mansion's owner, who was cleared of involvement in the initial police probe, said Samai checked into the room about two weeks ago.

Was he linked with insurgents in the South?

Fact: We only know police said people "dressed like Muslims" appeared near him and a pickup truck with a Narathiwat licence plate was at the building. Speculation about his involvement with militants from the deep South more or less had to do with the blast being caused by home-made explosives. The bombs that rocked Bangkok on December 31, 2006, were of a similar type that is also popular in the South.

Could Samai have been a victim of a big set-up to frame the red shirts? After all, the explosion is a game-changing incident, both locally and internationally.

Possible answer: Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan insisted yesterday that the blast had nothing to do with the movement. That the bomb went off in a hardcore red-shirt supporter's room in a red-dominated province weakens any "third-hand" scenario.

Is it possible that some world-class agents befriended Samai, came to stay in his room and smuggled in a huge amount of explosives and tools without his knowledge and blew the place up? Did they have him killed in the blast or before it?

Possible answer: Yes, it's possible, but not likely.

On the other hand, is the story too simple to be true? A red hardliner who fixed electronic gadgets for a living, had a history of alleged involvement in a bombing incident and was fleeing an arrest warrant has been found dead after a powerful bomb apparently went off accidentally in his room. Was he evil and is Thailand just lucky this time? Or was he just a victim or a pawn?

The condition of his body tells us that he must have been very close to the bomb when it went off. That much we can be certain about. How he ended up there will be subjected to debate by both sides of the political divide.

If it is proved beyond doubt that Samai was a bomb-maker, what will happen next to the red-shirt movement and the reconciliation efforts as a whole?

Possible answer:Jatuporn has provided us with some clues. He declared that the bomb had nothing to do with the red shirts, so any evidence that Samai was making a bomb when the explosion occurred can only be met with a response that he was just someone driven by a personal agenda or motive and was not working for the reds.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...foul-of-police

APARTMENT BOMBING

Porntip runs foul of police

• Published: 8/10/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Police have clashed with forensics head Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan at the site of the Saman Metta mansion bombing.

Nonthaburi police chief Supakit Srijantaranont, left, argues withKhunying PorntipRojanasunan, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, over authority to conduct a forensic examination at SamanMetta Mansion.Saman Boonprasert, the owner of the apartment block, watches. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, director of the Justice Ministry's Central Institute of Forensic Science, took staff on an inspection of the site yesterday where they gathered evidence at the request of Nonthaburi governor Wichian Phuttiwinyu, who was there to welcome them.

Staff started collecting evidence at the Bang Bua Thong blast site but were opposed by Nonthaburi police, who argued their presence could compromise their own investigation.

Khunying Porntip and police have clashed before over high-profile cases, in what police like to portray as territorial disputes. Khunying Porntip has criticised police procedures in past inquiries.

Khunying Porntip and about 10 of her staff arrived at the site at about 8am.

The CIFS team combed the debris searching for evidence. They found a mobile phone, a body part and a document bag.

The team also collected a DNA sample from Saman Boonprasert, 58, the apartment owner.

Nonthaburi police chief Supakit Srijantaranont arrived an hour later and demanded the Khunying and her team leave the site, saying the premises were under police supervision.

Pol Maj Gen Supakit said the forensics team could compromise evidence crucial to the police investigation.

The forensic pathologist argued she was inspecting the site at the request of the Nonthaburi governor and her team worked to crime scene inspection rules.

The Nonthaburi police chief insisted Khunying Porntip leave. Khunying Porntip agreed to depart and left some evidence at the site. She refused to talk to reporters after the skirmish.

Mr Saman, the apartment owner, complained to police that Khunying Porntip's team moved some items from the site.

looks like the police trying to "cover" their incompetence, awesome

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Khunying Porntip has criticised police procedures in past inquiries.

Probably correctly- but she has been criticised herself too, and her professional impartiality validly questioned. Known to be 'yellow leaning', it was astonishing that she could miss, or miss reporting, explosive residue on a Yellow shirt widely accused as having been killed by the Police, but who in fact was killed when an explosive she was carrying exploded prematurely.

Of course we know what the Thai reaction would be if it were suggested impartial foreign forensic teams were sent to Thailand to perform this sort of work.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Could Samai have been a victim of a big set-up to frame the red shirts? After all, the explosion is a game-changing incident, both locally and internationally.

SD - I think you'd better sue the Nation and your friend Tulsathit for plagarism

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

Where were the non-grenade 'bombs'? There were two in a field somewhere I recall, one near a cavalry base or something.

Again, you need to separate the 'grenades' from the 'bombs' - a bit difficult since the government and army keep calling everything 'bombs'.. but the vast majority have been grenades set off in places that would hurt only lo-so pedestrians.

My suggestion? Both sides are at it. The amart/military faction are behind the grenade attacks at bus stops etc, the reds are learning the canister methods in fields etc. But the grenades (except for those fired in April at yellow/army positions) are the work of the government-supporters.

You keep beating this untrue drum. The difference with this one is it went off. The others did not. Here is article from BP on Sept 9, a month ago. The one at the Mall was in fire extinguisher, I am usure about the others, you go look it up.

As another poster says, these types are not the easiest to set off and as this guy ended up blowing himself (and 3 innocent people) up accidently, then it would seem likely he has been having problems with the detonators.
TH

Unexploded bombs raise tensions in Bangkok

• Published: 9/09/2010 at 10:56 AM
• Online news: World

Police in Thailand defused three unexploded bombs discovered in Bangkok and surrounding suburbs over a matter of hours, one of them in front of a school and one in a shopping mall, they said Thursday.
The finds -- which come after a string of blasts in Bangkok -- have raised further doubts over the speed at which emergency rule can be lifted in the Thai capital and prompted opposition accusations of a government conspiracy.

One device was found under a footbridge outside a school in central Bangkok on Wednesday morning, Major General Prawut Thavornsiri, the national police spokesman, told AFP.
On Wednesday night, two more, each weighing around five kilograms (11 pounds), were found at a shopping mall and in the public health ministry car park in nearby Nonthaburi province, he added.

^ that article gives zero evidence, and virtually zero information, about anything... once again you're trying to make links that aren't there... Propagandaerist that you are...

With regard to this thread, it doesn't look good.

My thoughts are:

The vast majority of bombs around Bkk before/since the coup are planted by the army (various groups) for their own benfit; as mentioned before, to get power, which they have been very successful in doing, sadly...

This bomb is different. It's hard to judge any truth in news under the current climate, but this does look like it could be a large bomb that was designed to cause a major explosion, and it looks like it could well have been by a red 'activist'. This is obviously bad nwes, there is no excuse for planting bombs.

If you study history or have some awareness of social stability/instability, etc, then it is obvious, and many of us have been saying it for a long time, that under the current junta it is very likely that real terrorism/civil war will come. Basically, if you take away peoiple's vote, their right to protest military installed governments and corruption, you stack a one-sided judiciary, steal non-stop and blatantly, etc, etc, etc, but even more so, you illegalize and harass the majority of the electorate and hold them down under a bloody gun and military commands; ISOC and CRES, then this is what you get.

I really hope that this is a one off, and the reds do not embark on this road.

Originally Posted by sabang

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Khunying Porntip has criticised police procedures in past inquiries.

Probably correctly- but she has been criticised herself too, and her professional impartiality validly questioned. Known to be 'yellow leaning', it was astonishing that she could miss, or miss reporting, explosive residue on a Yellow shirt widely accused as having been killed by the Police, but who in fact was killed when an explosive she was carrying exploded prematurely.

Of course we know what the Thai reaction would be if it were suggested impartial foreign forensic teams were sent to Thailand to perform this sort of work.

Given that porntips team were, and possibly are still, using GT-200 explosive detectors with nothing but air inside them; why would you find it astonishing that they did not detect explosive residues?

The only thing that is astonishing is that what is supposed to be the best forensics team in thailand used a machine to provide evidence that could be used in a court room, without doing even the most basic investigations into it's effectiveness. The credibility of her and her team is so damaged by the GT-200, and their behaviour when it was exposed as a scam; that I not sure I would believe her if she said the sky is blue.

Originally Posted by Keef

Originally Posted by hazz

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

My suggestion? Both sides are at it. The amart/military faction are behind the grenade attacks at bus stops etc, the reds are learning the canister methods in fields etc. But the grenades (except for those fired in April at yellow/army positions) are the work of the government-supporters.

The problem with using bombs, is that eventually someone gets careless and blows themselves up; leaving a rather devastating trail of evidence, as we have just seen with this departed bomb maker. its politically a very high risk strategy, I just don't see what the army would gain from planting grenades, that they could not achieve by less risky means.

fractions within the UDD had access to and used grenades in april/may; I don't see any reason why they would stop after the army cleared them out; if anything I can see them getting more fired up. And someone in thailand has access to enough M79 grenades to justify the illegal manufacture of 100's of launchers presumably because, unlike the army, they cannot just go out and buy them.

Yes, I remember that story reported in BP

Bangkok Post : More M79 launcher parts seized

And nothing more was said until:

Weapon parts seized in Thailand could be for Burma’s rebels
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
S.H.A.N.

Thai police think the illegally made M79 grenade launcher parts seized in Ayutthaya on 13 March and more in the neighboring Samut Prakan on the next day are for the United Wa State Army (UWSA) that is currently at loggerheads with Burma’s ruling military junta over the Border Guard Force (BGF) deal, according to the news community in Bangkok.kpoints set up by the Burma Army has been an unsolvable problem, according to Wa sources.

shanland.org"

(both originally posted on the TD thread:

https://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...arms-like.html (Thai Police Seize 100 Arms-Like Machines Ahead Of Anti-Government Rally)

So the link of the grenade launcher manufacture to the UDD that you infer is pretty tenuous.

It's nice to know they are not in thailand and might be going somewhere where the recipients might deserve them

Originally Posted by hazz

The only thing that is astonishing is that what is supposed to be the best forensics team in thailand used a machine to provide evidence that could be used in a court room, without doing even the most basic investigations into it's effectiveness. The credibility of her and her team is so damaged by the GT-200, and their behaviour when it was exposed as a scam; that I not sure I would believe her if she said the sky is blue.

They are typically Thai, thus unable to accept responsibility nor admit mistakes. The lies and denials when the bomb detectors were exposed as nothing but a con were like those you hear from a seven year old child denying they have done something naughty when caught.

It's amusing how everyone sees Porntip as some sort of forensic genius but in reality she'd be making the tea in the West.

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

For all anyone knows the targets could have been the yellows, the government or the military. Some like SD, Pickel and BF will conveniently skip over the last part..

Why would I skip over that? Who else would the red shirts prefer to bomb?

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

As for some who claim that this means the red shirts are behind all the small grenade attacks in recent weeks at bus stops etc - bullshit - it doesn't prove anything.

Unlike you, I have an open mind and believe it is possible the gov't is behind some of these attacks. However, you can't seem to digest the overwhelming evidence that this particular one points directly to the redshirts, and links them to four other similar bombs.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...-pm-on-bombing

Army chief to brief PM on bomber

• Published: 8/10/2010 at 10:55 AM
• Online news: Breakingnews

Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha will later today go to Government House to brief the prime minister about the fatal explosion in Nonthaburi and the death of the suspected bombmaker, reports said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is scheduled to visit the Bangkok Post at noon today.

In the afternoon, Mr Abhisit will chair a meeting in preparation for his trip to Burma, scheduled for Monday, the reports said.