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The sources said that Sondhi himself best knew who had mounted the attempt on his life.

Three teams of assassins on motorcycles sprayed a hail of bullets at Sondhi, his driver and his secretary, from the front, the back and the side of the vehicle, according to the sources. The gunmen were not in a pickup truck as earlier suspected.

The man who drove the pickup truck spotted by security camera following Sondhi's vehicle moments before the shooting yesterday came to police and denied involvement. The motorist said that he had been driving behind Sondhi's vehicle when he heard gunshots, which prompted him to turn behind a bus nearby for cover.

Sondhi's guards, following him in another vehicle, also saw the suspects and fired on them, forcing them to speed away before they could complete their mission, they said.

"Sondhi knows best who tried to kill him," said a source, "but he can't say anything much now because he doesn't trust the police or the investigators."

Deputy national police chief General Jongrak Juthanond yesterday chaired a meeting of investigators at Chana Songkhram police station to discuss the probe into the shooting.

At 5.30 am on Friday, Sondhi's van was attacked by a team of gunmen as he was on the way to his office for a six-o'clock ASTV talk show. The gunmen used a range of weapons to fire several dozen bullets at Sondhi in front of Wat Iamworanuj, in Bangkok's Bang Khumphrom area.

Sondhi escaped because he was sitting in the back seat and his guards, in another vehicle behind, fired at the gunmen, who lost their nerve and sped from the scene.

After five hours of surgery, bullet fragments were removed from Sondhi's skull. While Sondhi's secretary accompanying him was unhurt, his driver remains in critical condition, needing a third operation.

According to Sondhi's media firm Manager, he is furious with his attackers.

Sondhi's condition improved yesterday, and he was able to talk, walk and eat, said his doctor Theerapong Charoenvit, director of Chulalongkorn Hospital.

The People's Alliance for Demo-cracy leader will be kept under close medical observation for one week, however. Theerapong said Sondhi, who is on the eighth floor of the hospital, had asked him to tell the media he was "fine and safe".

His driver, Adul Daengpradab, was in a more serious situation with a four-cubic-centimetre swelling at the back of his brain and will have to have another brain operation, his doctor said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Jintanat Limthongkol, Sondhi's son and senior executive of the ASTV-Manager media empire, said yesterday Sondhi was "vengeful" but not sure yet who was behind the assassination attempt. Jintanat urged the PAD to exercise caution and not fall into the trap of the enemy.

Democrat Party spokesperson Buranaj Smutharaks yesterday urged the authorities to quickly arrest those behind the attack as the issue could complicate the political situation and lead to confrontation. He warned against believing rumours.

Amongst the many well-wishers who visited the hospital yesterday were Chuan Leekpai's son Surabot, who said he and his mother had come on behalf of his father.