Thai police want to question five soldiers over a possible connection to the assassination attempt on “yellow shirt” protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul, media reports said yesterday.
A senior police official denied the reports, which followed last week’s confirmation by Thailand’s army chief that some of the bullets used in the April 17 attack were from the military.
“Police detectives want to know if the soldiers had anything to do with the murder attempt,” the Bangkok Post said, quoting unnamed police sources as saying they were searching for five “special warfare” soldiers.
Sondhi, who was wounded in the head after gunmen riddled his car with automatic rifle fire, did not speak to reporters as he left hospital yesterday.
He is a cofounder of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which led a street campaign against former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra before he was ousted in a 2006 coup. The PAD occupied Bangkok’s airports last year to protest a pro-Thaksin government that was later dissolved by the courts.
Police have made no arrests in connection with the brazen attack by gunmen who raked Sondhi’s car with M-16 and AK-47 rifle fire as he was being driven to a radio station while Bangkok was under emergency rule.
Army chief Anupong Paochinda said some of the M-16 cartridges found at the scene were from army stocks, but he denied speculation by Sondhi’s colleagues that military personnel may have been involved in the assassination attempt.
Bangkok’s deputy police chief, Major General Pongsan Jaimon, rebutted reports that police were looking for five soldiers.
“How do you know this when I don’t know?” he asked reporters. “We have to suspect all related people, including influential people, soldiers or whoever. There are no clues at the moment.”
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ended a 12-day state of emergency in the capital on Friday.
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