Ousted Thai PM denies any links to Bangkok bombs
Source: Reuters
(Updates with security analyst comments) By Ed Cropley BANGKOK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied suggestions by the military and his army-appointed successor he was linked to New Year's Eve bombs that killed three people and wounded 38 in Bangkok. In a letter faxed to media organisations from Beijing, where he is in exile after his removal in a Sept. 19 coup, Thaksin accused the army-appointed government of jumping to conclusions by blaming "groups that have lost political powers". Many Thais have interpreted that as meaning Thaksin. "I swear that I have never thought of hurting or destroying the happiness of the Thai people or spoiling the credibility of the country for my political goals," he said in the handwritten three-page letter. Thaksin, a police lieutenant-colonel before moving into telecoms and then politics, said his contacts within the force suggested the unprecedented blasts were the work of Muslim separatists from the Malay-speaking far south. "I asked police about the materials and methods used. The bombs were probably the work of militants from the far south," the billionaire said. "I want to condemn the group that was behind the bombs in the strongest terms." More than 1,800 people have died in three years of bombings and shootings in the three southernmost provinces along the Malaysian border. But the militants, who have not made their aims public and do not issue claims of responsibility, have never taken their campaign beyond the immediate region, a move that would represent a major escalation. Security analysts said that even though there were some similiarities between the types of bombs used, the wide geographical spread of the New Year blasts across the capital was markedly different from serial bomb attacks in the south. "This has to be in some fashion linked to the former regime -- but that's such an enormous pool of people," said Bangkok-based security consultant Brian Dougherty of Hill and Associates. CONSPIRACY THEORIES Surayud Chulanont, Thaksin's army-appointed successor, said on Monday there was only a "very remote possibility" that southern militants were involved. Instead, he said intelligence pointed to politicians who had lost power, although he added that that meant more than simply the previous administration. He did not reveal any details of the intelligence and admitted the government did not know who ordered the bombings. "Briefs from various intelligence agencies, based on evidence available, show that they came from groups that have lost political powers," Surayud told a news conference on Monday. "These were not just the previous government, but include all those which have lost power in the past," he said. "We could not at this stage pinpoint which particular group was involved." The confusion of messages from the army, police and government have triggered a rash of conspiracy theories. Among them are police seeking to head off an army-imposed reform drive, a renegade former prime minister acting in a fit of pique, or hardline elements in the army looking for excuses to perpetuate military rule.
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