Bomb plot near Thaksin house thwarted - Thai police

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

BANGKOK, Aug 24 (Reuters) Thai police said today they had thwarted what they believed to be preparations for a bomb attack on the house of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, apparently by the driver of a senior security official.

General Pallop Pinmanee, deputy director of the powerful Internal Security Operations Command, was sacked soon after the driver was detained and told police he worked for Pallop.

''Yes, I signed an order to fire him this morning,'' Thaksin told reporters, but declined to say why.

''The man told police that he is General Pallop's driver,'' Police Major General Aswin Kwanmuang told reporters.

Police said they had followed the man for several days and detained him after he parked a car at a busy intersection near Thaksin's house in Bangkok. Ingredients for a fertilizer bomb were found inside it, they said.

''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,'' a policeman at the scene said.

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

The car, which belonged to an army lieutenant, bore false number plates, police said.

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

''We have an initial report showing who was behind the plot and we will take some measures to prevent any further violence,'' Surapong said.

The incident occurred on the first official day of campaigning for a general election re-run scheduled for October 15, and followed scuffles between Thaksin supporters and opponents which raised fears of violence.

Thaksin called a snap general election in April to counter a growing street campaign to oust him by opponents accusing him of corruption and abuse of power, charges he denied.

But a boycott by the main opposition parties meant it was inconclusive. The courts ruled it unlawful and ordered a re-run.

REUTERS SSC PM1329

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