A policeman died when a bomb he was carrying exploded in northeast Thailand near a house rented by a politician loyal to the ousted prime minister, police said yesterday, while a separate blast hit nearby.
The small bombs come as political allies of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra struggle to form a coalition government after winning last month's general elections but falling just short of an absolute majority in parliament.
The 49-year-old policeman died when the bomb exploded late on Sunday in the town of Nakhon Rachasima, police Colonel Veerawat Peungsuwan said.
The bomb went off about 5m from a house rented by Suporn Atthawong, he added.
The policeman did not work in the district where he died, and investigators were trying to find out why he was carrying a bomb near Suporn's house, Veerawat said.
Suporn, who rents the house when he visits Nakhon Rachasima, said he believed the bomb was intended as retribution over a lawsuit he filed against a local businessman.
"I have no conflicts with anyone else. This businessman is the only person I have a problem with, and that case is in court," he told Thai television.
Suporn also survived a shooting last year, which he believed stemmed from another dispute.
Suporn was a senior member of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party. After the coup in September 2006, he was barred from politics by a military-appointed court and has not appeared involved in Thailand's current political problems.
In nearby Buriram Province, also on Sunday night, a bomb was thrown into a building owned by a member of Puea Pandin party, which won a handful of seats in the Dec. 23 elections.
"The bomb injured no one and caused slight damage," Police Colonel Tanawut Tuamsomboon said. "Police believe it was a threat against the candidate as a by-election will be held on January 17."
Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont warned yesterday that intelligence reports suggested further violence.
"I have asked the police to be more strict on security after intelligence reports pointed to the possibility of more violence," he told reporters.
"But we don't know yet who will create it, or whether it will be linked to politics," he said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not