Seven Bombs Go Off In Bangkok - New Year Countdown Cancelled

[Boon Mee]

muslims or thaksin supporters, but i seriously doubt the latter.

Why?

Stuck in the south?

[paulmw]

TRT denies masterminding bombs

The Thai Rak Thai Party was not behind the series of bombs that rocked Bangkok last night, said the party deputy speaker Chatuphon Promphan.

Chatuporn warned the Council for National Security (CNS) not to prematurely point fingers at the party, whose administration was ousted by the coup makers on September 19.

"We urge the CNS to speedily find out the facts before any misunderstanding is widely spread," Chatuporn said a few hours after the first blasts.

"The bombs can be looked at from different angles and a political cause is just one of them. It could also be seen as a challenge to the CNS and could stem from the spread of the conflict in the three southernmost provinces."

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

All very strange this coming from TRT when they & the police were quick to jump on the Army in the Toxsin bomb scare.

Paul

[DragonQuest]

Muslim terrorist? or Toxins' Minion's? whoever the hel_l did this is an idiot, Im not scared, and Im still going out with my girl tonight.

The tourism industry will be hit very hard by this, Less farang will be here now and that means less money for the thai's.....

[Jonson83]

Old power clique suspected of being behind Bangkok bomb attacks: source

A security source at the Government House said the old power clique was behind the simultaneous bomb attacks in Bangkok.

The source from an intelligence agency said the intelligence agencies had learnt about the plan of the old clique to create disturbance toward the yearend.

The source said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was on the standby in Bangkok because he expected the attacks.

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

Hard to believe the 'old power clique' is behind the bombings as it would be stupid and harm their possible future political plans immensely.

And, how come the Government (PM Surayud) 'expected' these bombings ....?

If they know already who was behind the attacks within a few hours (and expected the attacks), why didn't they do something before it happened ?

Odd and strange.

LaoPo

Like what LaopAo?

What could they have possibly done? More police? Army? call superman?

If you don't know WHERE the bombs have been planted theres nothing you can really do.I mean how do you stop someone dropping a grenade from a bridge? that could happen anywhere in the world.

This has been happening in the west/Isreal for a long time and the sad fact is it is near impossible to stop.Thailands military/police don't get anywhere near the same level of funding as say their western counterparts.If we can't stop these type of attacks how can we expect them to?

[britmaveric]

Warned the public - then they can decide if they want to take the risk.

[Nawtilus]

Yeah, define 'something' laopo.......

[deminister]

A very sad start to what should be a fun filled holiday, I dread to think what impact this will have on tourism.

Oh excellent, I'm due to travel to BKK next for a holiday! I thought I would be escaping all this terrorist shit in London for a couple of weeks

you must be from mars..... WHICH Terrorist SHIT in London?

[londonthai]

the tourist industry is not the whole countries economy - and the blasts might save the weakening economy (as 9/11 saved for sometimes the american economy)

Edited December 31, 2006 by londonthai

[CDB]

On ITV they are saying they have caught someone with bomb-making materials. I guess that will clearly provide a link to what kind of group is behind this

[Naam]

My money is on the followers of Islam. Is it a leap of faith? No. We can see what they do all over the world.

sure! according to informed sources Osama bin-Laden was sighted in Sow Cowboy today sipping a milkshake.

[george]

COORDINATED BANGKOK BOMBS KILL 2; New Year's Eve Countdown cancelled

(BangkokPost.com)

At least six bombs or grenades have exploded in Bangkok early on New Year's Eve. Two people are reported to have been killed, about 25 have been wounded.

Bangkok authorities ordered all public New Year's Eve parties cancelled. Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin appeared at the huge Bangkok Countdown 2006 venue and told the crowd to "go home and stay in peace."

There had been confusion for an hour over whether New Year's parties would be permitted after the bombing. New Year's is the biggest public party in Thailand.

The national government indicated celebrations might proceed including - especially - the massive and internationally famous New Year's Countdown outdoors party attended by upwards of half a million people outside CentralWorld near Siam Square in central Bangkok.

Police Commissioner Kowit Wattana, at a televised news conference, said, "Don't be afraid, but be careful," and urged Bangkokians not to cancel New Year's Eve plans.

But the capital was extremely tense. All major department stores, due to stay open until late for holiday shopping, were all shut by 8 p.m. including the luxury Emporium and Paragon stores in the main tourist areas of Sukhumvit and Siam Square. Central, the biggest Thai department store operator, closed its stores.

Many would-be party-goers headed for home, either because the party mood has faded, or because they were unwilling to risk a public party.

By the time Mr Apirak personally ordered the Countdown to halt, the mood was off anyhow.

Earlier, government spokesman Yongyuth Malyalarp said the capital should remain calm and alert, and keep an eye out for unusual activity. He said police had been ordered on high alert.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said people hoping to celebrate the new year should avoid crowded areas.

Early reports said there were six explosions in various parts of the capital. Two were reported near the Klong Toey market, where one person was killed, and near the busy Victory Monument, where two people were reported killed and more than a dozen wounded.

Graphic footage shown on television showed damaged vehicles and blood-stained streets and pavements.

TV reports said a man was seen throwing a grenade off a pedestrian overpass near a police box in the Saphan Kwai area of Bangkok, injuring several people in the explosion.

At Seacon Square in eastern Bangkok, Asia's largest mall, an explosion in the outdoor parking lot sent hundreds of shoppers scrambling, but no injurites were reported.

Shoppers who called BangkokPost.com said the mall was evacuated and shuttered for the night.

Another explosion was reported from Sukhumvit Soi 62, a major intersection with the capital's main expressway system in southeast Bangkok, and another in suburban Nonthaburi province north of the city centre.

"There was no warning. It is quite shocking. We've got at least one child very seriously injured in my area and others are injured," said Police Maj-Gen Anand Srisiran, chief of Metropolitan Police District Five.

Witnesses told police in some places that they saw people throwing what looked to be grenades shortly before the explosions.

New Year's Eve parties were just kicking off when the bombs began going off around sundown at 6 p.m.

The coordinated attacks are unprecedented in Bangkok.

However, political feelings have run high for more than a year, and there have been reports of political violence aimed against the military junta which ousted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19 - primarily the suspected burning of schools.

In addition, some intelligence sources had suggested in the past two weeks that Islamist extremists leading the southern insurgency might try to spread their attacks to the capital. They have never operated out of the deep South.

The Bangkok bombings, however, bore little resemblance to bomb attacks in the South, which usually involve improvised explosive devices (IEDs) copied from the Iraq model, and set off by mobile phones, and vehicle bombs, especially in motorcycles.

Except for the insurgency in the four southernmost provinces, there has been no deadly political violence in Thailand for more than 14 years, when a popular protest overthrew the last military government. In that case, the violence and deaths were caused by the military government and armed forces.

Martial law was lifted in Bangkok and surrounding provinces just a month ago, but the military is authorised to act when necessary. The coup passed its 100-day anniversary on Dec 28.

The junta leader and army commander, Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, is currently out of Thailand, on the Haj in Saudi Arabia, and will not return until Thursday.

--Bangkok Post 2006-12-31

[LaoPo]

Yeah, define 'something' laopo.......

If the Government 'expected' or knew about these bombings they could have warned the public to stay at home...

LP

[JacknDanny]

the tourist industry is not the whole countries economy - and the blasts might save the weakening economy (as 7/11 saved for sometimes the american economy)

7/11? you mean the convenience stores throughout Thailand or do you mean 9/11?

[sting01]

Old power clique suspected of being behind Bangkok bomb attacks: source

A security source at the Government House said the old power clique was behind the simultaneous bomb attacks in Bangkok.

The source from an intelligence agency said the intelligence agencies had learnt about the plan of the old clique to create disturbance toward the yearend.

The source said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was on the standby in Bangkok because he expected the attacks.

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

Hard to believe the 'old power clique' is behind the bombings as it would be stupid and harm their possible future political plans immensely.

And, how come the Government (PM Surayud) 'expected' these bombings ....?

If they know already who was behind the attacks within a few hours (and expected the attacks), why didn't they do something before it happened ?

Odd and strange.

LaoPo

Like what LaopAo?

What could they have possibly done? More police? Army? call superman?

If you don't know WHERE the bombs have been planted theres nothing you can really do.I mean how do you stop someone dropping a grenade from a bridge? that could happen anywhere in the world.

This has been happening in the west/Isreal for a long time and the sad fact is it is near impossible to stop.Thailands military/police don't get anywhere near the same level of funding as say their western counterparts.If we can't stop these type of attacks how can we expect them to?

In 95 my country went throught something similar events. The bottom line was the shooting of the head of the terrorist network by the French Gendarmerie (kind of military Police or Feldgendarmerie). To do so you need information, not money. Money is not the key, information is. To hunt down a jackall, you simply wolfes

The only terrorism that is hard to expell is the one linked to criminal (Corsica in France, mafia in Sicilia), In europe the political terrorism is dead with Bader/Meinhoff as the Police learned how to handle it.

On the other side, I would like to join my voice to those who already expressed concern for the victims and their familly. I will pray tonight for them

[MrSnrang]

the tourist industry is not the whole countries economy - and the blasts might save the weakening economy (as 7/11 saved for sometimes the american economy)

Yeah but wont the attacks make the country seem unstable and therefore scare foreign investors off?

[paulmw]

Just off Yahoo/(AFP)

BANGKOK (AFP) - At least 12 people have been injured in Bangkok night after four bombs exploded in the Thai capital as revellers were preparing to bring in the New Year.

The four explosions happened within an hour of each other across Thailand's capital, beginning at 5:30 pm (1030 GMT) at central Bangkok's Victory Monument.

"I have received reports of bombs at Victory Monument which injured four people," Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj, national police spokesman, said on Thai television Sunday.

Two

(Advertisement)

more bombs hit police traffic posts almost simultaneously at about 6 pm (1100 GMT), police said.

One was at an intersection in the north of the city and injured two, and another exploded in the northern suburb of Nonthaburi. No one was injured there.

The last blast was at Klong Toey market in downtown Bangkok at 6:30pm (1130 GMT), and injured six people, including two children, Ajiravid said.

Anan Srihiran, police major general in charge of Klong Toey district, told Thai television that the bomb went off at the district's food market.

"It was a bomb put in a garbage can in the centre of a fresh market of Klong Toey," he said, adding a 10-year-old child suffered a large leg wound.

Ajiravid urged people to be careful as they celebrated New Year, and asked the public to report any suspicious incidents.

It was not immediately clear if the bombs had anything to do with a military coup on September 19 that ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, or with an ongoing violent separatist insurgency in the kingdom's south.

Thailand's military-installed premier Surayud Chulanont had warned earlier this week of possible large-scale attacks by Islamic militants during the New Year holidays.

However, that warning was for the nation's restive Muslim-majority south, where an ongoing insurgency has killed 1,700 people since January 2004, but has rarely affected people outside the three provinces bordering Malaysia.

An intelligence source told AFP that the attacks were likely politically motivated.

"The bombs are not involved with southern unrest or even the hanging of Saddam. It is a political issue -- it is undercurrents and they plan to bomb 22 positions in the next few days," the source said, but did not elaborate.

There has been relatively little public resistance to the recent coup, with small protests going ignored by the ruling junta, despite the fact that martial law remains in force three months after the putsch.

A number of schools have been torched in Thaksin's stronghold in the north and northeast of the kingdom, and regional police said the arson attacks could be related to politics.

Thaksin was in New York when the military overthrew his twice-elected government. Since then, he has been living in self-imposed exile abroad and is currently staying in Beijing.

He has expressed a wish to come back to Thailand, but the military fear his return may galvanize his support the north and northeast and spark protests.

A spokesman for Surayud said the new prime minister was aware of the attacks, but did not know who was behind them.

Four bombs hit Thailand's capital

Two Dead, 12 Injured In Bangkok Bombs

Two Dead, 20 Injured In Bangkok Bombs

Rash of bombs hits Bangkok, 20 wounded

Fatal blasts in Thailand

Paul

[brahmburgers]

major bummer. A piss-poor way for angry Muslims to unload anger. Much better to stage protests and engage in dialogue. .....oh wait, awhile back there was a protest in southern Thailand by angry young Muslims and the military broke it up with extremely heavy handed tactics. Roughly 80 young men died unnecessarily. It happened on two different occassions. Of course, even such byzantine actions by the Thai military cannot justify randomly killing innocents.

However, a BIG BIG step toward enabling cooler heads to prevail - is for the military to admit some of its officers and soldiers seriously scewed up in their mishandling of those above-mentioned situations, and then take tangible action to BRING THE SCREW-UPS TO JUSTICE AND METE OUT REAL JUSTICE. Do it in a civilian court, not a military court, because the military cannot seriously punish its own - in fact, it can't even admit there were major screw-ups to begin with.

The other BIG STEP toward sanity - would be enabling community outreach programs to A. find out what residents want, and B. take tangible actions to try and remedy the situation.

As it stands now, there are hundreds of families in the South who sincerely feel their brother and/or husbands and/or fathers were murdered. The #1 culprit, Mr. Taksin, has distanced himself as much as he can (he's a crowning example of 'not taking responsibility' when things go wrong), but there are still officers and soldiers who bear at least partial responsibility for the atrocious way the military mishandled the two major incidents down south. They should be brought to book for their misdeeds.

[Jai Dee]

"The Bangkok bombings, however, bore little resemblance to bomb attacks in the South, which usually involve improvised explosive devices (IEDs) copied from the Iraq model, and set off by mobile phones, and vehicle bombs, especially in motorcycles."

Excerpt from this breaking news bulletin from the Bangkok Post.

[Jonson83]

Warned the public - then they can decide if they want to take the risk.

Like everyone listens to the British police when they warn of bomb attacks? and besides i thought the goverment had already warned against more attacks?

Still this doesnt actually prevent terrorist attacks.You can't bow to terrorist pressure and live doors 24/7

[Jai Dee]

Public Health to shoulder medical costs of all injured in bomb attacks

Public Health Permanent Secretary Prat Boonwongwiroj said his ministry would shoulder all medical expenses of the victims of the bomb attacks in the capital.

He said 13 people were sent to the Rajvithi Hospital and one of them died. Three of them were receive an operation at press time.

He six people were admitted to Chulalongkorn Hospital and three of them were severely injured and one of them had died.

Three injured were being treated at King Mongkut Hospital, one at Kluay Nam Thai Hospital and another at the Paolo Memorial Hospital.

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

[Jai Dee]

CNS may seize Thaksin's assets following bomb attacks: source

A security source said the Council for National Security may order the seizure of assets of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to cut money supply for financing disturbance in the country.

The source said the CNS believed Thaksin was behind the series of seven bomb attacks in Bangkok Sunday evening.

The source said the CNS noted many bombs were launched at police booths but none of police officers were injured.

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

[Jai Dee]

Just off Yahoo/(AFP)

"The bombs are not involved with southern unrest or even the hanging of Saddam. It is a political issue -- it is undercurrents and they plan to bomb 22 positions in the next few days," the source said, but did not elaborate.

That is a serious concern.

[Jonson83]

Sonthi orders deployment of soldiers to step up security in Bangkok

...

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

Why are soldiers needed?! What's wrong with just using the police?

//edit for comment will not accept moderator actions - lopburi3//

Because soldiers are far better trained in situations such as these!!!

I think you are barking up the wrong tree. Either that or just barking mad

A normal soldier is not trained for that duty, or at least not normal soldiers (S A S can be, as other SPECIAL units but in anyway a raw conscript from Boulder, Wlatford, Cambrais, Pfaffenhoffen or Chayaphum). Police is trained to handle civilian people, and protect them .... or they should

You don't think that some of the soldiers called in will be bomb specialists? Part of Thai military inteliegence? Special forces? and just incase any more idiots are planning attacks in the next few hours the Army is a far better deterrent than Police..

[jinjok]

jaidee: i had made this point earlier even though i did not know and still do not anything about the bomb or the crime scene.

im in states (for a few more mos) and reading this thread as info is pumped in its got taksin/trt all over it. but i would not rule junta out. it appears the thai media thinks so as well.

curious though - no media svcs looking at junta angle???

it is also curious as to the timing - someone mentioned earlier - youd think it would be set off at 1145. not earlier.

[britmaveric]

How bombing will help the TRT is beyond me? Logics says it won't and hurts it.

[JacknDanny]

Sonthi orders deployment of soldiers to step up security in Bangkok

...

Source: The Nation - 31 December 2006

Why are soldiers needed?! What's wrong with just using the police?

Like I said earlier, training the people to accept martial law.

(I will keep posting this simple explanation until it sticks. )

Because soldiers are far better trained in situations such as these!!!

I think you are barking up the wrong tree. Either that or just barking mad

A normal soldier is not trained for that duty, or at least not normal soldiers (S A S can be, as other SPECIAL units but in anyway a raw conscript from Boulder, Wlatford, Cambrais, Pfaffenhoffen or Chayaphum). Police is trained to handle civilian people, and protect them .... or they should

Remember this is Thailand!!!

[onethailand]

Trying to keep up with this by radio and TV reports. Latest report says that three of the bombs were timed devices packed with nails and other sharp objects. Another timed device was discovered at the Mall Ngam Wong Wan. And two other locations, the Makro Chaeng Wattana, and at a 7-Eleven near a university, have apparently also reported explosions.

A very sad day for Thailand. It will be good to get this year behind us.

[birago23]

What about the Sukhumvit soi 62 bombing? Was it the start of a new series? Is it quiet now?

[Ludacris]

Regardless of who is responsible for these bombings, the problems that caused them are not going away anytime soon.

I always told myself I'm leaving Thailand when the bombings come to Bangkok. This place is never going to be the same. For years in the future everyone will be thinking everyday when the next one is coming. Having 2 bombs go off at the same time within at 10 min walking radius of my apartment has really made me think...

Combine this with all the other turmoil the past 2 years regarding property ownership (through foreign created companies), alcohol and gas purchase time restrictions, closing time restrictions, internet censorship and fighting among ex-pats (stickman), the military coup, the visa chaos, the new teacher requirements, stock market crashes, currency controls, and now bombs next door....how much can an ex-pat take....

My condolences to the victims.

[JemJem]

Let's be realistic here. I think that most of us would agree that there are 2 possibilities as to who are behind this. 1. Islamist extremists; 2. Pro-Thaksin/anti-coup extremists. As of now, I am sort of 50-50 between the two but if I must choose one, I'd say the latter. Think about 9/11, Bali, Istanbul, Madrid, London, New Delhi bombings. These were massive terrorist acts and each killed dozens of people. Islamist extremists usually go for maximum damage.

Regards,

Jem