Thai anti-Thaksin leader wounded in assassination bid

THAILAND: The Thai activist who led a blockade of the kingdom’s main airports last year was shot and wounded in the head Friday in an assassination attempt the government said was aimed at inciting fresh unrest.

Doctors said that Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of the “Yellow Shirts” royalist movement that helped topple former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was in a serious condition and in surgery to remove a bullet from his skull.

Gunmen wielding automatic weapons fired about 100 rounds at the car in a dawn attack, wounding Sondhi as well as his driver and aide, a local police commander told AFP.

The attack will heighten tensions between Sondhi’s Yellow Shirts and Thaksin’s rival “Red Shirts,” who took to the streets of Bangkok this week in violent battles with security forces.

The ambush took place as Sondhi, the leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which mounted a nine-day seizure of Bangkok’s two airports last year, was on his way to record a programme for his private television station.

“At least two attackers followed Sondhi’s car, overtook it and sprayed it with about 100 rounds of gunfire from AK-47 and M-16s,” said the police commander, Colonel King Kwaengwisatchaicharn. “The motive for the attack is still under investigation,” he said.

Hospital authorities said that Sondhi was conscious and talking when he arrived for treatment after the attack, which police said left Sondhi’s driver was in a serious condition, while an aide suffered minor injuries.

“He has a bullet inside his skull at the right temple. It will take some time because it is brain surgery,” said Chaiwan Charoenchoketavee, director at Vajira Medical College. BANGKOK, Friday, AFP