PM: Tip-offs had indicated possibility of bombing; no clear clues on attackers
The fatal bomb attack in front of Big C Supercentre on Rajdamri Road on Sunday may result in the state of emergency in Bangkok being continued, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
He said there were security leads about bomb attacks prior to the blast on Sunday, which occurred near the Rajprasong intersection killing one person and wounded eight others.
Asked why it could not be prevented, he said: "Tip-offs do not reveal when and where the attacks will take place."
Asked whether the tip-offs indicated any future attack, the prime minister said: "Tip-offs always come and are not issues that can be made public all the time. It's the authorities' responsibility to deter attacks."
Abhisit did not rule out the possibility that the Big C bomb attack was not politically motivated. He said it was still difficult to jump to such a conclusion, although the attack took place on a by-election day in Bangkok. "All factors that would represent the attackers' intention to send a message would need to be considered," he said.
Asked if there were any tip-offs suggesting who was behind the bomb attack, he quoted police as saying, the way the bomb was assembled was the best lead available, and it "coincided with the method in two previous bomb attacks". He did not elaborate.
Abhisit yesterday held a 70-minute meeting with National Security Council chief Thawit Pliansri and acting National Police chief Patheep Tanprasert.
He will chair an NSC meeting today to discuss the Big C bomb attack among many other issues, including the Preah Vihear dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, and whether the state of emergency would be extended in Bangkok, or ended in other provinces.
Police said the home-made bomb was improvised from an M67 hand grenade. Its safety pin had been taken off before being attached to a makeshift detonator set off by a wristwatch. The bomb was kept in a cardboard box in a black garbage bag, to blend into the garbage pile. The US-made grenade has a 15-metre kill radius.
Security footage shows a man in a mask dropping a black garbage bag on the pile and walking away. Police are studying the footage to determine whether he is a suspect, they said, adding there were no other details available to indicate this man was involved.
Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Santhan Chayanont said people behind the Big C bomb attack could be those involved in previous bomb and grenade attacks, but did not give further details of suspected groups. He dubbed them as psychopaths and described them as "some of those who still do this kind of thing," without explaining.
A Suan Dusit poll shows that a vast majority of Bangkok residents (85 per cent) believed the Big C bomb attack was politically motivated and nearly half (47 per cent) thought the state of emergency should be extended to ensure a quick response by authorities to deter any future terror attack. The opinions were given by 1,304 people living in Bangkok on Monday and yesterday.