Police Link Bomb Attack to Uighurs, Deep South and Thai Politics

[webfact]

Thai police link suspect in bombing to previous explosions
GRANT PECK, Associated Press
NATTASUDA ANUSONDISAI, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Police on Monday gave their most detailed explanation yet of who they believe was behind last month's deadly bombing in Bangkok, for the first time publicly linking one of the suspects to previous blasts.

Authorities have said they believe the Aug. 17 bombing at the Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people and injured more than 120, was carried out by a people smuggling gang seeking revenge for having their operation curbed.

While a presentation to the media Monday mostly summed up information released in recent days, National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang said that two different groups may have been involved, and that a Thai suspect still at large had been tied to bombings in 2010 and 2014.

The 2010 bombing was loosely linked to "Red Shirt" activists who earlier that year staged militant anti-government protests.

Skepticism about the police explanation on the shrine attack has abounded, because of leaks, contradictions and misstatements. So police went to some lengths Monday to lay out all the links they could in the alleged conspiracy in their presentation in an effort to boost their credibility.

One series of computer-generated sketches tried to show how the original wanted poster for the man accused of planting the bomb resembled the suspect now in custody, without the disguise he wore at the scene of the crime.

They are confident that the two men in custody, identified as Adem Karadag — also known as Bilal Mohammed — and Mieraili Yusufu, are responsible for the bombing. There are warrants out for 15 other people in connection with the case.

Karadag, who police believe is Turkish, is thought to be the yellow-shirted man who planted the bomb and Yusufu, who carries a Chinese passport, is believed to have detonated the bomb. They both faces charges of murder and attempted murder, among other crimes.

Police released details of one of the most-recently named suspects, a Thai man identified as Ord Payungwong or Yongyuth Pobkeaw. He was tied to two apparently accidental but fatal explosions in 2010 and 2014, and police said he could have taken part in assembling last month's bomb.

Metropolitan Police Chief Srivara Rangsipramanakul said Ord "has committed at least nine crimes so far, never been arrested and doesn't have a Thai identification number." All Thai citizens are supposed to carry ID cards, which also ensure that their photos and other details are on file.

The 2010 explosion in the outskirts of northern Bangkok partially destroyed a five-story building and killed four people, just five months after the army violently suppressed a two-month political protest by supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military takeover.

The 2014 explosion on a motorcycle killed two men and led to the discovery of several pipe bombs in a nearby apartment, in the same general neighborhood where several of the Erawan Shrine bombers are believed to have stayed. Police had previously linked the 2010 and 2014 blasts.

The link to the earlier blasts suggested that some of the suspects were involved in activities other than people smuggling. Police have suggested that some of the people involved in the shrine bombing may have been hired by the people smugglers.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-29

[canuckamuck]

It was pretty obvious right from the start that they were angling for redshirt involvement. Their plans were set back when the Uighur base was all but handed to them on a silver platter. But I see they have recovered and found a way to include the reds again. Branding Thaksin as the mastermind of course will be their crowning achievement.

Edited September 29, 2015 by canuckamuck

[Oziex1]

"The lawyer said he had not had access to his client since Wednesday, as police had the case moved from a civilian court to a military court because of the severity of the crime"

Or to shield this farce from any scrutiny.

[Bender]

Breaking news :

Police Link Bomb Attack to Uighurs, Deep South and Thai Politics... and climate change !

[Oziex1]

Thai police link suspect in bombing to previous explosions

GRANT PECK, Associated Press

NATTASUDA ANUSONDISAI, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Police on Monday gave their most detailed explanation yet of who they believe was behind last month's deadly bombing in Bangkok, for the first time publicly linking one of the suspects to previous blasts.

Authorities have said they believe the Aug. 17 bombing at the Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 people and injured more than 120, was carried out by a people smuggling gang seeking revenge for having their operation curbed.

While a presentation to the media Monday mostly summed up information released in recent days, National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang said that two different groups may have been involved, and that a Thai suspect still at large had been tied to bombings in 2010 and 2014.

The 2010 bombing was loosely linked to "Red Shirt" activists who earlier that year staged militant anti-government protests.

Skepticism about the police explanation on the shrine attack has abounded, because of leaks, contradictions and misstatements. So police went to some lengths Monday to lay out all the links they could in the alleged conspiracy in their presentation in an effort to boost their credibility.

One series of computer-generated sketches tried to show how the original wanted poster for the man accused of planting the bomb resembled the suspect now in custody, without the disguise he wore at the scene of the crime.

They are confident that the two men in custody, identified as Adem Karadag — also known as Bilal Mohammed — and Mieraili Yusufu, are responsible for the bombing. There are warrants out for 15 other people in connection with the case.

Karadag, who police believe is Turkish, is thought to be the yellow-shirted man who planted the bomb and Yusufu, who carries a Chinese passport, is believed to have detonated the bomb. They both faces charges of murder and attempted murder, among other crimes.

Police released details of one of the most-recently named suspects, a Thai man identified as Ord Payungwong or Yongyuth Pobkeaw. He was tied to two apparently accidental but fatal explosions in 2010 and 2014, and police said he could have taken part in assembling last month's bomb.

Metropolitan Police Chief Srivara Rangsipramanakul said Ord "has committed at least nine crimes so far, never been arrested and doesn't have a Thai identification number." All Thai citizens are supposed to carry ID cards, which also ensure that their photos and other details are on file.

The 2010 explosion in the outskirts of northern Bangkok partially destroyed a five-story building and killed four people, just five months after the army violently suppressed a two-month political protest by supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military takeover.

The 2014 explosion on a motorcycle killed two men and led to the discovery of several pipe bombs in a nearby apartment, in the same general neighborhood where several of the Erawan Shrine bombers are believed to have stayed. Police had previously linked the 2010 and 2014 blasts.

The link to the earlier blasts suggested that some of the suspects were involved in activities other than people smuggling. Police have suggested that some of the people involved in the shrine bombing may have been hired by the people smugglers.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-29

More contradictions by the RTP.

The bomb making expertise originally stated as not available in Thailand and a foreigner must have come to train the bomb makers. Now revealed as a Thai known for his bomb making ability.

Some posters like to say "You couldn't make this up" I disagree you could make this up and I think they have.

BTW, they will have to try a bit harder to boost their credibility.

[canuckamuck]

A statement is in the works from all the groups involved, explaining their reason for the (non terrorist) bombing. However there are so many people and various interests included that they need several meetings to discuss and determine exactly, what their cause is and who gets top billing. Latest word is they expect to have a draft ready for final review early in the new year.

[Bellacissa]

A statement is in the works from all the groups involved, explaining their reason for the (non terrorist) bombing. However there are so many people and various interests included that they need several meetings to discuss and determine exactly, what their cause is and who gets top billing. Latest word is they expect to have a draft ready for final review early in the new year.

Do they have a road map? They need a road map. All of the good plans have one.

[zaphod reborn]

So much easier for Somyot to end his reign, boasting he solved every bombing for the last 5 years by pinning everything on 2 trafficked Uighurs who just wanted to get to Turkey. Izan is the key and he is in Syria as the operation was organized and financed by ISIL. The involvement of ISIL in the Era Wan bombing is exactly what Thailand and the RTP doesn't want to admit - that ISIL was trafficking Uighur militants through Thailand by bribery.

[skildpadden]

The attack's links to a Chinese ethnic group, separatists in Thailand’s Deep South and a radical Redshirt bombmaker.

Well, that covers most of the initial theories.
I am just surprised there are no disgruntled fishermen, navy officers with no submarines, slave owners - and of course the obvious scapegoat involved in this?

[JAG]

The attack's links to a Chinese ethnic group, separatists in Thailand’s Deep South and a radical Redshirt bombmaker.

Well, that covers most of the initial theories.

I am just surprised there are no disgruntled fishermen, navy officers with no submarines, slave owners - and of course the obvious scapegoat involved in this?

Stick around - I am sure that there will be. Somyot's still got a couple of days to go, and then there is his deputy, you know, the one who was described as "befuddled"! Edited September 29, 2015 by JAG

[oneday]

"...today as they laid out the attack's links to a Chinese ethnic group, separatists in Thailand’s Deep South and a radical Redshirt bombmaker..."

OMG, , but really, it's not a laughing matter.

They managed to put all the suspected groups together into one pot, but they forgot the theory that the current government did this to throw suspicion elsewhere. Where did this radical Redshirt bombmaker come from. That is the first I've heard of that theory and I thought this bomb technique has never been seen in Thailand. They throw all this out there with absolutely nothing to back it up.

It is so sad, so, so, so sad to see the Thai people lied to like this.

[FangFerang]

The list of suspects, now at eighteen, includes the lady who cleans the toilet at the bus station a red shirt used once while on vacation in Phuket, where a taxi drove by later the same day driven by a southern suspected insurgent's third cousin twice removed, and who has been to Bangkok and spoke, once, with a Turkish man, who is also a suspect because he is a man, and also Turkish, and who spoke to the driver because he suspiciously needed a ride to the airport....all around the same time that Thaksin was in New York and on the verge of being unseated from his wholly corrupt imminence...

Yeah, that's the ticket....we knew this was going to happen eventually, even way back then.....

It's not only not terrorism, it's a red shirt socialist plot and a human trafficker's deception that has been the sole reason Thailand is Tier 3 (not a political reaction to extraditions to China at all, by the way)...besides, their relatives never liked them either and helped pay for the airline fuel too!

Thailand Moves Forward ....................

Edited September 29, 2015 by FangFerang

[JAG]

The list of suspects, now at eighteen, includes the lady who cleans the toilet at the bus station a red shirt used once while on vacation in Phuket, where a taxi drove by later the same day driven by a southern suspected insurgent's third cousin twice removed, and who has been to Bangkok and spoke, once, with a Turkish man, who is also a suspect because he is a man, and also Turkish, and who spoke to the driver because he suspiciously needed a ride to the airport....all around the same time that Thaksin was in New York and on the verge of being unseated from his wholly corrupt imminence...

Yeah, that's the ticket....we knew this was going to happen eventually, even way back then.....

It's not only not terrorism, it's a red shirt socialist plot and a human trafficker's deception that has been the sole reason Thailand is Tier 3 (not a political reaction to extraditions to China at all, by the way)...besides, their relatives never liked them either and helped pay for the airline fuel too!

Thailand Moves Forward ....................

That is wildly implausible. Are you a senior officer in the police?

[klauskunkel]

Police Link Bomb Attack to Uighurs, Deep South and Thai Politics

that alone deserves another cash reward.

[ldiablo]

When a bomb goes off it is nothing short of terrorism, what else can it be, a reminder to pick up the milk , bombers have an agenda, no matter what it is, it is an act of terror , just be in the area when one goes off and see the terror on the faces of the people, the generalisation of three completely different set of groups just adds to the fact that they haven't a clue.

The last time i ate som tom and was in the toilet and let off a bomb not only could you see the terror on people's faces but you could also hear in their voices as they were gasping for oxygen.

Edited September 29, 2015 by ldiablo

[greenchair]

I know. It's all my fault,

I have been sending secret orders by mental telepathy.

[KhunMoo]

Breaking news :

Police Link Bomb Attack to Uighurs, Deep South and Thai Politics... and climate change !

And Obama! You've forgot that pesky muslim...

On a serious note - one wonders when official Thailand will mature, to a level that can be taken serious.....if ever

[springheeled jack]

again we have this we are not quite sure about this so we will say blame it on the uighurs the deep south and thai politics that should just about cover it say its a wrap and give ourselves a bonus .

[pookiki]

Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razor and in Latin lex parsimoniae, which means 'law of parsimony') is a problem-solving principle devised by William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), who was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian. The principle states that among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove to provide better predictions, but—in the absence of differences in predictive ability—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better.

Following this principle, the link to the Uighurs is the most relevant and pervasive. This was brought out by a security specialist long ago who spoke at the FCCT. Everything else just muddies the waters. But muddy waters and a few red shirts to blame (stir until boiling) are the soup du jour.

[connda]

Police Link Bomb Attack to Uighurs, Deep South and Thai Politics......

...the Blood Moon, Sunspots, Climate Change, and ghosts.

[The Deerhunter]

It was pretty obvious right from the start that they were angling for redshirt involvement. Their plans were set back when the Uighur base was all but handed to them on a silver platter. But I see they have recovered and found a way to include the reds again. Branding Thaksin as the mastermind of course will be their crowning achievement.

I find difficulty seeing the police involving Thaksin in the plot. There was always an unholy alliance between them before. Last year the BIB seemed totally sympathetic to the red-shirts cause to the point the military and Navy had to get covertly involved to provide protection to the yellows which is an appalling indictment to all involved. The BIB could only chase yellow shirts and not protect them from grenades even when given pictures of the faces of the people throwing the bombs, except to say he was a Navy officer!!!!!!. In one of- if not the only arrest they made was in this same (Nontaburi) area when they arrested some bombers one night but only because they had an army patrol with them at the time, I am sure. Did they ever go to court, and get convicted & sentenced and actually go to gaol?

I just do not understand why they now appear to have decided to make a connection to all this with Thaksin, if that is what they are doing. Perhaps they are not involving him, and these vague accusations are deliberately vague so we can all fill in the dots with our own favourite bogeymen and they hope to keep everyone happy with us all making up our minds who these un-named political figures are. And, where is this notorious and mysterious Thai bomb maker Ord Payungwong or Yongyuth Pobkeaw? Why has he not been arrested, dragged back from Laos, Cambodia or Burma, or extradited via interpol from somewhere else by now?

Edited September 29, 2015 by The Deerhunter

[jesimps]

The police's scenario is not unrealistic.

Muslim groups are likely to have links to each other.

Maybe the "involvement" of the southern Muslims was just in helping to locate a bomb maker in Bangkok, who just happened to be Muslim and a red shirt too.

"...a Muslim Redshirt"

Now that has to be a first.

[silent]

Covering all the bases there, aren't they? I wonder who will come out with tomorrow's rebuttal saying it was definitely not anyone from these groups.

Not quite all the bases. It looks like they're not blaming any possible responsibility for it on 20th and 21st century born Caucasians, (of British descent).

[gaijinsomchai]

While they're at it why not blame Shining Path, the Taliban and the Ulster Volunteer Force.

[Nemesis7]

But I thought the RTP announced that the case was already solved?!?!?!

[tajtom]

I think its a direct attack on the JUNTA personaly and the rest is all talk

[lostmebike]

Domestic and international politics motivated those who last month bombed one of Bangkok’s landmark attractions, police said today

But last week they claimed it wasn't terrorism yet the very definition of terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.

Do they actually know what they say or the meaning of what they say?

It seems the only ones that listen or believe anymore are themselves.

How does the saying go, `There`s no room for corruption is this government`. A great clean up job your generalist. You have cleaned so well they have lost all power of reason, sense and thought.

[mijako]

so disgusting. give this money to the victims families

[micksterbs]

But not terrorism.

No, no, no. We don't use the T-word around here...

[JAG]

It was pretty obvious right from the start that they were angling for redshirt involvement. Their plans were set back when the Uighur base was all but handed to them on a silver platter. But I see they have recovered and found a way to include the reds again. Branding Thaksin as the mastermind of course will be their crowning achievement.

I find difficulty seeing the police involving Thaksin in the plot. There was always an unholy alliance between them before. Last year the BIB seemed totally sympathetic to the red-shirts cause to the point the military and Navy had to get covertly involved to provide protection to the yellows which is an appalling indictment to all involved. The BIB could only chase yellow shirts and not protect them from grenades even when given pictures of the faces of the people throwing the bombs, except to say he was a Navy officer!!!!!!. In one of- if not the only arrest they made was in this same (Nontaburi) area when they arrested some bombers one night but only because they had an army patrol with them at the time, I am sure. Did they ever go to court, and get convicted & sentenced and actually go to gaol?

I just do not understand why they now appear to have decided to make a connection to all this with Thaksin, if that is what they are doing. Perhaps they are not involving him, and these vague accusations are deliberately vague so we can all fill in the dots with our own favourite bogeymen and they hope to keep everyone happy with us all making up our minds who these un-named political figures are. And, where is this notorious and mysterious Thai bomb maker Ord Payungwong or Yongyuth Pobkeaw? Why has he not been arrested, dragged back from Laos, Cambodia or Burma, or extradited via interpol from somewhere else by now?

Because extradition, certainly from Laos and Cambodia, would require evidence, and, err, umm, there isn't any really.