Two pickups used in Sondhi assassination bid : police

This marked the first time a police theory on the number of vehicles used has been put forward. However, the officer did not specify the second vehicle's type. Earlier,  police said two gunmen sprayed Sondhi's van with bullets while standing in a black Toyota Vigo pickup.

A dud 40mm grenade shell that hit a bus that was travelling near Sondhi's vehicle at the scene on a Samsen Road section could have been launched by the gunmen from either an M203 rifle or an M79 launcher, he added.

Police are also looking for clues of the gunmen in Kanchanaburi and Lop Buri where they are possibly based and hidng, he said.

A police source, emphasizing on another unsettled theory whether the attempt was meant to kill or merely threaten Sondhi, said the gunmen could have either been untrained shooters, for their salvo shooting even with their intent to kill. They could have been simply skilled assassins who deliberately attempted not to fatally hit Sondhi. The motives behind both cases have not either been analysed or concluded by police.

Meanwhile, Maj General Khattiya Sawasdiphol, an Army weapons expert, said a statement by Army commander General Anupong Paochinda that three spent cartridges found at the scene were from M16 munitions supplied to the 9th Infantry Division in Kanchanaburi was possibly untrue.

He said Armymade munitions supplied exclusively to the Division were usually engraved with serial numbers in the past five years, but there were none found on the three cartridges - his own account which was completely different from news reports.

Police have assigned the Crime Suppression Division to assist the Metropolice Police Bureau in solving the assassiantion case.

Doctors at Chulalongkorn Hospital which was treatning Sondhi said the ASTVManager Daily founder was now allowed to go home.