Bangkok (The Nation/ANN) - The three Iranian suspects in the Bangkok blasts are an assassination squad targeting Israeli diplomats, including the ambassador, a senior Thai intelligence official said yesterday.
One of their many methods was to attach magnetic bombs to diplomats' cars, the source told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.
The source and AFP did not give details on who or which countries were behind the suspects' plan to strike against Israeli interests in Thailand.
The report corresponds well with foreign analyses pointing to an act of state-supported attack, or evidence being gathered indicating terrorism, but Thai authorities were attempting to play the incidences down both on Tuesday when they occurred and again yesterday.
An arrest warrant has been issued for an Iranian woman, Rohanni Laila, who entered Thailand on the same day as the three male suspects now in Thai and Malaysian police custody.
The Bangkok South Criminal Court has approved arrest warrants for all three male suspects following prescribed criminal procedures. They can now be placed under Interpol, if necessary.
Wichean Potephosree, secretary-general of the National Security Council, at a high-profile news conference yesterday said the attacks were not sabotage and not related to last month's arrest by Thai authorities of Lebanese man Artris Hussein, who has Swedish nationality, as a terror suspect.
The local blasts had no connection with similar attacks in India and Georgia, he said, although Israel has said they were ordered by Iran and had common links to the incident near Sukhumvit Soi 71 in Bangkok.
"The US statement did not link the incidents in India and Georgia to the ones in Thailand. It only said whenever the incidents in other countries occurred, it indicates that the attacks could still be conducted in similar fashion elsewhere," he added.
The second suspect, Mohammad Hazai, 42, was caught at Suvarnabhumi Airport late on Tuesday when he was about to board a flight to Malaysia.
The third suspect, Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 27, managed to escape on an AirAsia flight, also on Tuesday evening, to Malaysia. However, Malaysian authorities yesterday detained the Iranian man at about 3pm in Kuala Lumpur at the request of Thai authorities. The suspect was about to leave the Malaysian capital for Tehran. He initially booked a February 25 flight for the Iranian capital.
Earlier deputy police chief Pansiri Prapawat said Sedaghatzadeh departed Bangkok for Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday afternoon.
Asked why Thai authorities were playing down the attacks and their likely links to transnational terror operations while foreign governments and media channels were indicating otherwise, Wichean did not answer, appearing grim and tense.
National Police chief Priewpan Damapong said separately that the use of explosives in Tuesday's attack was "similar to a bomb incident in India".
The three Iranian men were plotting to kill certain individuals but not to destroy any structures in Thailand, |he said, giving no sources of |information or analytical reference.
1 comment