Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Even as the Thai Government maintains a state of emergency in Bangkok, a Thai political leader and media baron was attacked today.
Sondhi Limthongkul, leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement, who is anti former Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was attacked this morning, while he was on his way to office. A group of men wielding guns fired a hail of bullets at his car.
Limthongkul is also the owner of the Manager Group, which operates websites, newspapers, magazines and a cable television channel.
A surgical team at Vajira Hospital, in Bangkok this morning announced that they had removed a bullet from Limthongkul’s skull, and he had barely survived the attempted assassination bid.
The Police recovered 97 shell casings from at least three semi-automatic weapons -- an AK47, an M16 and an SK.
He was on his way to his daily morning talk show programme at ASTV station, when the gunmen in a pick-up truck, fired at his vehicle.
Limthongkul and his secretary were injured and were taken to Vajira Hospital, amidst tight security, while his driver, who too was seriously injured, was sent to Mission Hospital. The gunmen escaped from the scene, when another car with Limthongkul’s followers chased them.
The Thai government decided on Friday to extend the state of emergency in Bangkok and nearby provinces.
Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, insisted that the decision to maintain the state of emergency in Bangkok, had nothing to do with the attack on Sondhi Limthongkul, but was an attempt to restore peace and order in the country .
Sondhi and PAD protesters late last year seized two Bangkok airports, during their protests against the government of Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law of ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
Meanwhile, the Thai Journalist Association (TJA), expressed concern over the incident, saying that it was a severe attack, which harmed the people’s feelings.
Watsayot Ngarmkham, a representative from the TJA said, this kind of violence should not happen in any conflict situation and the police should speed up the investigations and arrest the attackers.
The incident occurred after there were riots in Bangkok and Chon Buri Province, last week, the venue of the ASEAN Summit, which caused the Thai government to postpone the summit, after hundreds of protesters stormed into the hotel.
Later, Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and nearby provinces, to control the situation, after the riots in several places by red-shirt protesters. They burnt buses and attacked government offices.
The protesters have accused the Privy Council President, who is His Majesty the King's chief adviser, of being the mastermind behind the September 19, 2006 coup, which overthrew the Thaksin Shinawatra government, a charge denied by Prem. They also demanded that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down; saying the PM was not democratically elected and the government should schedule new elections.
According to a report in Manager Websites on Thursday, the officials along the Thailand–Burma border, raised surveillance because they believed that some red-shirt leaders, would escape arrest and flee to a third country through Burma.
