Five soldiers charged in Thai PM bomb plot

BANGKOK, Sep 5 (Reuters) Thai police have now charged five soldiers in connection with a plot to blow up Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that critics and the media have suggested was a political stunt, one of their lawyers said today.

The latest suspects are four soldiers who are all on active duty.

They have been charged with attempted premeditated murder of Thaksin and others, illegal possession of explosives and weapons, and document forgery, lawyer Prapass Kongmuang told Reuters.

The fifth soldier, Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana, who was arrested on Aug. 24 with explosives in his car near Thaksin's Bangkok home, is facing the same charges.

Thawatchai and the four -- a major-general, colonel, lieutenant-colonel and sergeant-major -- are all linked by police to the Internal Security Operations Commmand (ISOC), a shadowy agency run by the military during the Cold War to eliminate communists.

Thawatchai was a driver for ISOC deputy director General Pallop Pinmanee, sacked by Thaksin immediately after the incident, which coincided with the start of campaigning for an Oct. 15 general election.

Pallop professed his innocence, saying he could not have been behind the plot because if he had, Thaksin would be dead. Thawatchai and one of the other suspects are already in custody. The remaining three have been ordered to appear for questioning on Thursday morning or face arrest.

Differing police accounts of the size, complexity and readiness of the bomb they say was found in Thawatchai's car sparked suggestions in the domestic media the plot had been staged to bolster Thaksin's support in the provinces.

The billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician called a snap election in April to counter a Bangkok-based campaign against him.

However, a poll boycott by the main opposition parties rendered the election inconclusive and courts later annulled it, leaving Thailand with no functioning parliament and a caretaker government unable to make major policy decisions.

Although his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party is widely expected to win a comfortable majority, it remains unclear whether Thaksin will become prime minister again due to the campaign to remove him from office.

Reuters PB DB1022