Iran, Israel Play Blame Game Over Bangkok Blasts

[smedly]

Iranian badly injured in bombing stripped of residence status

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- An Iranian man arrested in connection with Tuesday's blasts in Bangkok has been stripped of Thai residence status, Immigration Police chief Pol Lt-General Wibool Bangthamai said yesterday.

Saeib Morabi, who lost his legs in the incident, is being treated at Police General Hospital.

Police investigators visited him yesterday and, when evidence is available, will likely charge him with attempted murder, attempted murder of policemen on duty, possessing explosives and firearms without permission, and causing damage through explosions, a police source said.

A second suspect in police custody, Mohammad Hazai, 42, arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport late on Tuesday, has not been charged with any offence.

Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Yitzhak Shoham, said Morabi was connected to a terror network behind recent bombing incidents in India and Georgia, relying partly on explosives of the kind found in the rented house in Bangkok.

Israeli authorities, through a Bangkok-based mission, are seeking details of the bomb-assembly system used with the magnetic explosives found in the home rented by the three suspects, said Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Winai Thongsong.

Three US Embassy officials were present at the rented house in Soi Pridi Banomyong 36 off Sukhumvit 71 Road, and had 30-minute talks with Thai police personnel.

According to police sources, two improvised bombs found at the house were in the form of portable radios, stuffed with C-4 explosives. Hand grenades with the safety lever removed were inserted in the radio units to be used as the detonator.

Small metal balls were also put in the units intended as shrapnel. There were six flat round metal plates with a diameter of 2 centimetres attached beneath the radio bomb units, each weighing about 2 kilograms.

Contrary to media reports that Morabi used two hand grenades while on the run, police sources said he used two radio bomb units, out of a stock of five. One went off in the first accidental explosion in the rented house, two were used by him and two others were found in the house.

The radio bombs went off five seconds after their grenades were activated. They had a blast radius of about 40 metres and kill radius of about 3-5 metres, the sources added.

-- The Nation 2012-02-16

Gee i have been here for 21 years and can not get Thai residency. I guess you have to be a terrorist to get it.

interesting that he had residency meaning he didn't have to constantly expose himself to boarders and imigration, perhaps something the Thai authorities should be looking into - there may be others

[Steely Dan]

And, as if to lend credence to my observation of Israeli motives, a former Mossad official named Mickey Segal told AFP ". . . the attacks would definitely strengthen Israel's hand in the diplomatic offensive against Iran."

"All these things help the strategic environment which is building against Iran as a terror-supporting state," said Segal.

"Obviously if you catch a person with an Iranian passport, it greatly helps the Israeli-Western narrative against Iran."

Well, well . . .

Well by that same logic 9/11 did wonders for the Israeli-western narrative against Islamic extremism. I can't believe you tinfoil hatters haven't explored the possibility that Iran wanted the terrorists to mess up because it actually wants to be attacked in order to fulfill the Shiite messianic doomsday prophecy. But that would be just silly wouldn't it?

Yes it would be silly. Why would Iran want to risk being bombed, nuked, or invaded by Israel and USA?

http://frontpagemag....es-documentary/

The documentary produced by the Iranian government confirms that it believes a final grand war against Islam’s enemies, which will culminate in the destruction of Israel, is not something to be avoided, but something to be sought

Edited February 16, 2012 by Steely Dan

[Rosco911]

An awful lot of people seem to be jumping the gun. With Thai politicians, it's par for the course; but the Americans should know better - but then, of course, we have the devil in Iran, an easy and obvious target, particularly where the Israelis are concerned.

Such incompetence as has been witnessed in the conduct of the bombings in India, Georgia, and here, can only be the work of an extremely amateur organisation. Or of an extremely professional one with its own separate agenda, employing amateurs. Hezbollah? Of course. Iran? Quite possibly. And then there is Israel itself . . .

A country that should have long ago been put in its place, Israel continues to be as much a menace to Middle East peace as Iran, Hezbollah, or any other country in the region. And so long as US presidential elections continue to be dictated by appeasement of the Jewish lobby, among others, nothing much is likely to change.

With the incidents over recent years directly attributable to the Israelis - ranging from bombing civilian targets, to assassinations carried out under cover of false passports [something else that seems to have conveniently found its way under the carpet] - Israel is as much a rogue nation as any other in the Middle East . . . but one that is all too well-armed, including nuclear capability; one that has, to date, managed to convince the west - at least, the US - that it's the innocent party, doing nothing more than defending its rights - whilst trampling over those of any that stand in its way; and one that is quite capable of setting events in motion that can then be blamed on another rogue nation.

I agree with a lot of what you have posted but I hardly think jumping the gun on who is to blame in this case when clearly the terrorist with the missing legs is Iranian.

My personal opinion is a big thank you to the Americans for trying to make the general public aware of the possibilities and growing concerns of terrorist attacks in Thailand.

[bendejo]

A few years ago, this guy Ahmadinejad was speaking at an american Univercity and when was asked about public hangings of gay man from electric poles in Iran, stunned and surprised he replied: " Gays? What gays? We dont have any homosexuals in Iran", to the amusement of the students.

Reminiscent of the scene from Borat, where he interviews Alan Keyes:

Borat: Gay? What means this gay?

Keyes then explains that gay means homosexual.

Borat (looking very concerned): You mean that guy who put his fist in my anus is a homosexual?

Edited February 16, 2012 by bendejo

[vincentc]

An awful lot of people seem to be jumping the gun. With Thai politicians, it's par for the course; but the Americans should know better - but then, of course, we have the devil in Iran, an easy and obvious target, particularly where the Israelis are concerned.

Such incompetence as has been witnessed in the conduct of the bombings in India, Georgia, and here, can only be the work of an extremely amateur organisation. Or of an extremely professional one with its own separate agenda, employing amateurs. Hezbollah? Of course. Iran? Quite possibly. And then there is Israel itself . . .

Attributing these amateur acts to Iranian or Lebanese 'state terrorism' is a sign of seriously underestimating their capabilities. Hezbollah as shown that they can punch back properly, if they want to do so. Thinking Iranian assassins are not capable of doing any better than throw grenades around on a Bangkok street is naive.

There might be much less to this event than they want us to believe.

[DieterWiehe]

Iranian badly injured in bombing stripped of residence status

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- An Iranian man arrested in connection with Tuesday's blasts in Bangkok has been stripped of Thai residence status, Immigration Police chief Pol Lt-General Wibool Bangthamai said yesterday.

Saeib Morabi, who lost his legs in the incident, is being treated at Police General Hospital.

Police investigators visited him yesterday and, when evidence is available, will likely charge him with attempted murder, attempted murder of policemen on duty, possessing explosives and firearms without permission, and causing damage through explosions, a police source said.

A second suspect in police custody, Mohammad Hazai, 42, arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport late on Tuesday, has not been charged with any offence.

Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Yitzhak Shoham, said Morabi was connected to a terror network behind recent bombing incidents in India and Georgia, relying partly on explosives of the kind found in the rented house in Bangkok.

Israeli authorities, through a Bangkok-based mission, are seeking details of the bomb-assembly system used with the magnetic explosives found in the home rented by the three suspects, said Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Winai Thongsong.

Three US Embassy officials were present at the rented house in Soi Pridi Banomyong 36 off Sukhumvit 71 Road, and had 30-minute talks with Thai police personnel.

According to police sources, two improvised bombs found at the house were in the form of portable radios, stuffed with C-4 explosives. Hand grenades with the safety lever removed were inserted in the radio units to be used as the detonator.

Small metal balls were also put in the units intended as shrapnel. There were six flat round metal plates with a diameter of 2 centimetres attached beneath the radio bomb units, each weighing about 2 kilograms.

Contrary to media reports that Morabi used two hand grenades while on the run, police sources said he used two radio bomb units, out of a stock of five. One went off in the first accidental explosion in the rented house, two were used by him and two others were found in the house.

The radio bombs went off five seconds after their grenades were activated. They had a blast radius of about 40 metres and kill radius of about 3-5 metres, the sources added.

-- The Nation 2012-02-16

Gee i have been here for 21 years and can not get Thai residency. I guess you have to be a terrorist to get it.

he has been stripped of his legs so he wont run away .

don't strip him of the visa make him a resident in the prison.

well you have to work something useful to the country.

like building bombs , the u will get this visa right away.

[slapout]

"Iran and Israel playing blame game" while the Thai's are being refree. Two out of the 3 may be out of their league when it comes to this part of the world.

[bigbamboo]

Killing people but not destroying structures..... so they're neutron bombers?

Edited February 16, 2012 by cdnvic
removed excessive quote

[BullDogs]

Attributing these amateur acts to Iranian or Lebanese 'state terrorism' is a sign of seriously underestimating their capabilities ! Yes this seemed like amateur hour but I don't think so I think just like in any human bomb making production mistakes can be made and he made one !! Lets all be thankful it did happen or else who knows where the bomb would have ended up ?? I just wish this ended up everytime these dicks made a bomb !!

[Roj]

(...snip...)

Contrary to media reports that Morabi used two hand grenades while on the run, police sources said he used two radio bomb units, out of a stock of five. One went off in the first accidental explosion in the rented house, two were used by him and two others were found in the house.

The radio bombs went off five seconds after their grenades were activated. They had a blast radius of about 40 metres and kill radius of about 3-5 metres, the sources added.

(...snip...)

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

If they`re the Iranian version of party poppers it would be a good idea to avoid the Tehran party circuit.

[TackyToo]

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

Isn't it clear from the news references? Assassination was the agenda, a more targeted form of conflict resolution or escalation than terrorism.

Which means most people in Thailand can now carry on with their D2D business.

What I find suspicious however: We all know that whenever, whereever something interesting happens in Bangkok, the video surveillance cameras were either broken, under repair or not installed. Now here, in a more obscure area of Bangkok, the cameras were working well enough to give extremely clear pictures of the suspects?

Something working as intended in Thailand: The seed of a conspiracy theory!

30/06/2011: There are now 10,000 CCTV cameras operating in Bangkok to make the capital safer, Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said on Thursday.

Here is what they catch:

[blackthorn2005]

Iran in 3 words: Axis of Evil!

[mungostjohn]

I'm surprised they didn't find each "Iranian" with a picture of himself and Ahmadinejad hugging each other.

[Atoosa07]

The Iranian spokesman also accused Israel of "trying to harm the friendly and historic relations between Iran and Thailand".

Well there are quite a few Iranians staying at the Hilton after having their bags searched.

I hear there is over 300 of them and 2 more added after today's arrests

[oldsailor35]

Although i do not believe that the Israeli's had anything to do with this. I am in no doubt that they would not hesitate if it was going to benefit them in any way. Who remembers the Rainbow Warrior incident where members of the Mossad blew up a ship in New Zealand, a friendly nation if there ever was. They just went in and set a bomb without a bloody care in the world, killing one innocent crew member.

[oldsailor35]

And, as if to lend credence to my observation of Israeli motives, a former Mossad official named Mickey Segal told AFP ". . . the attacks would definitely strengthen Israel's hand in the diplomatic offensive against Iran."

"All these things help the strategic environment which is building against Iran as a terror-supporting state," said Segal.

"Obviously if you catch a person with an Iranian passport, it greatly helps the Israeli-Western narrative against Iran."

Well, well . . .

Your saying these bombers are just impersonateing Iranians.

They're not working for Iranian secret service. They're amateurs with their own agenda and Israeli involvement is plausible.

Well if thats the situation. The Iranian govt will willingly arrest the woman who got away and hand her over to Thailand. A move like this will surely get them 'off the hook'

[PoodMaiDai]

"Personally, I believe the incidents in Georgia, India, and Thailand have no connection."

- Surapong

I have to say, I personally LOVE it when Thai officials start flapping their mouths after international media have already established a connection and moved on to deeper questions. The Thai government is so brazenly dishonest that it sometimes just turns into pure comedy. This is hilarious. You kinda want to just pat him on the head and give him a cookie: "Who's a good boy? WHO'S A GOOD BOY? Good boy, Suradong! Now, sit. OK, stay! Stay!" You start to wonder why they even bother to talk. Then you go to Tesco and you see exactly why this kind of thing continues.

All Thai politician should be made to wear clown shoes at all times.

[Unkomoncents]

"Personally, I believe the incidents in Georgia, India, and Thailand have no connection."

- Surapong

I have to say, I personally LOVE it when Thai officials start flapping their mouths after international media have already established a connection and moved on to deeper questions. The Thai government is so brazenly dishonest that it sometimes just turns into pure comedy. This is hilarious. You kinda want to just pat him on the head and give him a cookie: "Who's a good boy? WHO'S A GOOD BOY? Good boy, Suradong! Now, sit. OK, stay! Stay!" You start to wonder why they even bother to talk. Then you go to Tesco and you see exactly why this kind of thing continues.

What does Tesco have to do with it?

Well, you get a pretty good cross-section of the Thai mindset (willfully uninterested) at Tesco. I live near one of the worst ones too. I would've thought that would be obvious? Have you ever been to a Tesco? Perhaps they seem a paragon of efficiency, competitiveness, and logic. I don't know. I just know that grocery stores from other countries I've lived in seem very, very smart compared with Thai Tesco-es.

[Colin Yai]

(...snip...)

Contrary to media reports that Morabi used two hand grenades while on the run, police sources said he used two radio bomb units, out of a stock of five. One went off in the first accidental explosion in the rented house, two were used by him and two others were found in the house.

The radio bombs went off five seconds after their grenades were activated. They had a blast radius of about 40 metres and kill radius of about 3-5 metres, the sources added.

(...snip...)

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

If and when the dust settles and if and when they are brought to court, I wonder as to just what they are charged with?

[MrMuddle]

The chap with no legs could be charged with bumming around.

[TimTang]

And, as if to lend credence to my observation of Israeli motives, a former Mossad official named Mickey Segal told AFP ". . . the attacks would definitely strengthen Israel's hand in the diplomatic offensive against Iran."

"All these things help the strategic environment which is building against Iran as a terror-supporting state," said Segal.

"Obviously if you catch a person with an Iranian passport, it greatly helps the Israeli-Western narrative against Iran."

Well, well . . .

Conspiracy Alert!

[KeyserSoze01]

And, as if to lend credence to my observation of Israeli motives, a former Mossad official named Mickey Segal told AFP ". . . the attacks would definitely strengthen Israel's hand in the diplomatic offensive against Iran."

"All these things help the strategic environment which is building against Iran as a terror-supporting state," said Segal.

"Obviously if you catch a person with an Iranian passport, it greatly helps the Israeli-Western narrative against Iran."

Well, well . . .

Let's put the shoe on the other foot. Just what do you think the reaction would be if it were Israelis instead of Iranians that carried out this little escapade?

Granted it's not likely to happen though as the Mossad usually don't make such blunders and blow themselves up.

[TimTang]

An awful lot of people seem to be jumping the gun. With Thai politicians, it's par for the course; but the Americans should know better - but then, of course, we have the devil in Iran, an easy and obvious target, particularly where the Israelis are concerned.

Such incompetence as has been witnessed in the conduct of the bombings in India, Georgia, and here, can only be the work of an extremely amateur organisation. Or of an extremely professional one with its own separate agenda, employing amateurs. Hezbollah? Of course. Iran? Quite possibly. And then there is Israel itself . . .

Attributing these amateur acts to Iranian or Lebanese 'state terrorism' is a sign of seriously underestimating their capabilities. Hezbollah as shown that they can punch back properly, if they want to do so. Thinking Iranian assassins are not capable of doing any better than throw grenades around on a Bangkok street is naive.

There might be much less to this event than they want us to believe.

Building explosive devices is dangerous business and even experts make mistakes, as happened to these Iranians. The Iranian threw 2 of the devices they had built, not grenades, and they both seemed to work quite well. If this accident hadn't happened their mission my very well have been a success, as seen from the first attack in India which almost killed the occupant of the car they targeted. Not bad for "amateurs" (as you say).

This MO is exactly the same as the one the Israelis used to take out Iranian nuclear scientists, only they were more successful. Why do you think it would be such a leap of faith to assume that the Iranians would use the exact same MO to retaliate against Israel. It's not as if they are going to tarnish their pristine image on the world stage.

[OzMick]

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

Isn't it clear from the news references? Assassination was the agenda, a more targeted form of conflict resolution or escalation than terrorism.

Which means most people in Thailand can now carry on with their D2D business.

What I find suspicious however: We all know that whenever, whereever something interesting happens in Bangkok, the video surveillance cameras were either broken, under repair or not installed. Now here, in a more obscure area of Bangkok, the cameras were working well enough to give extremely clear pictures of the suspects?

Something working as intended in Thailand: The seed of a conspiracy theory!

more experienced terrorists know it is a good idea to disable CCTV

[OzMick]

And, as if to lend credence to my observation of Israeli motives, a former Mossad official named Mickey Segal told AFP ". . . the attacks would definitely strengthen Israel's hand in the diplomatic offensive against Iran."

"All these things help the strategic environment which is building against Iran as a terror-supporting state," said Segal.

"Obviously if you catch a person with an Iranian passport, it greatly helps the Israeli-Western narrative against Iran."

Well, well . . .

Schadenfreude is not illegal or immoral. Watching your enemies resemble the 3 Stooges and being picked up by a venal version of the Keystone Kops is both entertaining and encouraging - and I certainly have no problems with Israelis using their avowed enemies' methods against them, and doing so much more precisely and professionally.

[cdnvic]

People posting wacky anti-semetic conspiracies are having their posts deleted and posting rights removed as I type this. There's plenty of places to discuss this drivel on the internet but Thaivisa is not one of them.

EDIT: More posts removed. Stop the fighting or more are going away for a while.

[TimTang]

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

Isn't it clear from the news references? Assassination was the agenda, a more targeted form of conflict resolution or escalation than terrorism.

Which means most people in Thailand can now carry on with their D2D business.

What I find suspicious however: We all know that whenever, whereever something interesting happens in Bangkok, the video surveillance cameras were either broken, under repair or not installed. Now here, in a more obscure area of Bangkok, the cameras were working well enough to give extremely clear pictures of the suspects?

Something working as intended in Thailand: The seed of a conspiracy theory!

more experienced terrorists know it is a good idea to disable CCTV

It's interesting that they would have CCTV footage of the perpetrators on a fairly insignificant soi off of Ekamai. Surely the authorities don't have the entire city wired for CCTV surveillance. Is it possible that the Iranians were under surveillance when the mishap happened. There was also a report that they were arguing. How would they know that if the place wasn't bugged?

[OzMick]

If not terrorism, what were the radio bombs intended for? Party favors?

Isn't it clear from the news references? Assassination was the agenda, a more targeted form of conflict resolution or escalation than terrorism.

Which means most people in Thailand can now carry on with their D2D business.

What I find suspicious however: We all know that whenever, whereever something interesting happens in Bangkok, the video surveillance cameras were either broken, under repair or not installed. Now here, in a more obscure area of Bangkok, the cameras were working well enough to give extremely clear pictures of the suspects?

Something working as intended in Thailand: The seed of a conspiracy theory!

more experienced terrorists know it is a good idea to disable CCTV

It's interesting that they would have CCTV footage of the perpetrators on a fairly insignificant soi off of Ekamai. Surely the authorities don't have the entire city wired for CCTV surveillance. Is it possible that the Iranians were under surveillance when the mishap happened. There was also a report that they were arguing. How would they know that if the place wasn't bugged?

using Occam's Razor, I would guess it was reported by their neighbours.

[TimTang]

using Occam's Razor, I would guess it was reported by their neighbours.

What about the CCTV footage? That's a side street, not a main drag. They have relatively clear footage of them leaving shortly after the initial explosion. Is it common to have CCTV surveillance on an insignificant soi off Ekamai? Maybe they do! It just seems unlikely to me, that's all.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts have been removed.