Security Beefed Up After Second Small Bomb In Bangkok

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Security beefed up after second small bomb in Bangkok

By The Nation on Sunday

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday ordered police to beef up security and set up additional checkpoints in and around the capital, after a bomb went off on Bangkok's Rama III Road on Friday, injuring three people.

Police said another bomb that detonated late on Friday night, destroying a Silpakorn University student's car in Soi Chak Phra 16 in Taling Chan district, was probably caused by a personal conflict.

Suthep, who is in charge of national security, said he believed the bomb on Friday at Rama III also stemmed from a personal conflict and wasn't related to political problems in the country.

The Rama III bomb was suspected to stem from a personal conflict - targeted at a nearby grocery shop, Bang Phong Phang superintendent Col Kasin Srithammasuk said yesterday. The shopkeeper reportedly found the bomb at his shop three days earlier but put it in the trash can, where it went off, possibly because the bomber triggered it to destroy evidence.

However, Suthep said he had urged National Police chief General Wichean Potephosree to have police set up more checkpoints as a precaution so people cannot plant explosives anywhere.

The police chief also insisted their manpower was sufficient to provide security, Suthep said. If necessary, soldiers from the First Army Region could assist the police.

The deputy PM also urged people not to link news about a cancellation of the emergency decree in Bangkok and adjacent areas with bomb incidents.

He admitted, however, that there were groups of people who wanted to incite violence in Bangkok for political gain. So government officials had to differentiate between the incidents created by such groups and those by personal conflicts.

He said all security forces should be on alert whether the government kept or cancelled the emergency degree. Decisions should not be made emotionally or under social pressure without regard for possible damage to the country and public safety.

Suthep said he wouldn't comment on the Taling Chan bomb, which resulted in no deaths of injuries, until he had more details about it. Police would investigate first and then explain to the public what happened and why.

Police had initially found that the Taling Chan bomb, which went off in front of a company that makes swimming glasses, was a home-made bomb made with knotted rope and nails. They felt it was planted with the intention to threaten rather than to kill.

Although police gave more weight to the possibility of a personal conflict between the car owner and the company owner, they did not totally rule out the possibility that the incident was intended to create chaos.

Taling Chan police superintendent Colonel Pong-anan Khlaikhleung said interviews with the owners of the car and the company had so far not yielded any evidence of a personal conflict. He also said a security camera at the scene didn't function properly.

National Police adviser General Panupong Singhara na Ayutthaya, and spokesman Pol Maj-General Prawut Thavornsiri yesterday echoed that the Taling Chan bomb was likely to be the result of a personal conflict. Prawut said police nationwide were instructed to watch risky areas and urged the public to alert them about any suspicious activity.

The latest bomb incidents showed Bangkok was still not safe, Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul said yesterday. So the emergency decree in Bangkok and surrounding areas should remain, while it should be lifted in Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima and Khon Kaen.

But Pheu Thai Party deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsup said the Rama III blast might have been a government ploy to keep the emergency decree in place. Offering sympathy to the victims and condemning the culprit, Jirayu said that the party would follow the police work closely.

Despite the police comment that the Rama III incident might have been caused by a personal conflict, Pheu Thai members, many of who were senior police, thought that if a person sought to revenge in a conflict, they wouldn't opt to make a bomb, because it was complicated and dangerous. He said it looked more like the work of a professional.

Jirayu said it was suspicious that the bomb incidents occurred near October 5, when a decision was due on extending the emergency decree. If the government kept the decree in place and it would have "limitless power" and cause problems, he said. Government "suppression" would lead to bubbling social tension, which could erupt. He said if there was no emergency decree, there would be no bombs.

-- The Nation 2010-09-26

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[asiawatcher]

Can't believe the stupidity of the owner putting the bomb in the trash and having found it 3 days earlier. What? He didn't think it could kill the garbage collectors? What a buffalo!

[Bagwan]

Can't believe the stupidity of the owner putting the bomb in the trash and having found it 3 days earlier.  What?  He didn't think it could kill the garbage collectors?  What a buffalo!  

And I cannot believe this fine example of stupidity.

 'Although police gave more weight to the possibility of a personal conflict between the car owner and the company owner, they did not totally rule out the possibility that the incident was intended to create chaos. Taling Chan police superintendent Colonel Pong-anan Khlaikhleung said interviews with the owners of the car and the company had so far not yielded any evidence of a personal conflict. He also said a security camera at the scene didn't function properly. National Police adviser General Panupong Singhara na Ayutthaya, and spokesman Pol Maj-General Prawut Thavornsiri yesterday echoed that the Taling Chan bomb was likely to be the result of a personal conflict. ''

Clouseau rides again.  One of  his utterances seems appropriate. "There is a time to laugh and a time not to laugh, and this is not one of them."'

[dominique355]

Every time the Emergency Decree is about to be lifted, there is a bomb somewhere in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. How convenient! And that's reason enough to keep the state of emergency, which is not respected anyway.

The real question is: Did this state of emergency prevent anything? Probably not. But it gives the government a handy tool to do whatever they want and in an arbitrary way.

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Footage of surveillance camera inpected after bomb outside Nang Lerng horse racing course early Sunday; not fully functional, no injuries /via @MCOTenglishnews