Thai leaders said yesterday they were investigating security videotapes of suspects carrying out the New Year's blasts in Bangkok, and dismissed fears of a new coup as rumors spread by unnamed soldiers and police implicated in the bombings.
Rumors of a coup have spread through the capital, with some speculating that supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could try to retake power and others citing a possible move within the military against the civilian government it installed less than four months ago.
"Security forces and intelligence sources have confirmed that the coup rumors were spread by the groups of people linked to the New Year's bombs. They aim to create a state confusion and chaos," interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont told reporters yesterday.
"The investigators have concluded that the bombers were men in uniform, both green and khaki," Defense Minister Boonrawd Somtas said, referring to the uniforms worn by military and police services.
Warning that the country should be prepared for more violence, Surayad said police had recovered two security videotapes of some of the bombers.
The string of eight small bombs on Sunday killed three people and wounded nearly 40 as the Thai capital celebrated the New Year.
One of the tapes, seen by a reporter, showed the back of the head of a man with closely cropped hair who dropped something and then walked away. Police said the tape was recorded by security cameras at one of the bomb attack sites, in Nonthaburi on the northern outskirts of Bangkok.
Authorities have not released the other tape to the press.
Army commander General Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who led the takeover of Thaksin's government in September and now heads the military's Council for National Security, called the reports of another coup "impossible" in an interview on Thai television.
Colonel Sansern Chaengkamnerd, a council spokesman, also told reporters on Thursday that the coup rumors were baseless.
"There have been transfers of troops but it is for the purpose of providing security in Bangkok," he said.
There has been a marked increase in the number of troops on the streets of Bangkok and at airports, and bus and train stations, since the Sunday night bombings.
It remained unclear who was behind the attacks, although the military has suggested that Thaksin supporters in the military and police have been trying to destabilize the country in a bid to take back power.
The former prime minister has denied involvement.
There has also been speculation that the military may be dissatisfied with the performance of the interim civilian government it installed after the coup, and may prefer to take complete power for itself rather than work behind the scenes.
Sondhi denied the military council was responsible for the bombings.
"I have risked myself to do what the people wished. Why should I do that?" he said in a TV interview.
"I love my people and my country," he said.
The interim government, which is supposed to relinquish power after an election expected later this year, has drawn criticism for failing to solve several major problems, including an Islamic insurgency in the south and the rising value of Thailand's currency, which has hurt exports.
The failure to restore peace in the south and the Bangkok bombings raised fears that the insurgency may be spreading north from the country's three southernmost, Muslim-dominated provinces.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in