<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published April 18, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Thai political kingpin shot and wounded
Attack on founder of 'yellow shirt' protest movement was meant to kill, say police
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(Bangkok)
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</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>SAFE NOW
Mr Sondhi had an operation to remove bullet fragments and bits of skulll bone; he received a bloody head wound after gunmen riddled his car with bullets at a petrol station before dawn </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>THE founder of Thailand's 'yellow shirt' protest movement that shut down Bangkok airports last year was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt yesterday, just days after troops cracked down on rioting protesters from the rival, anti-government 'red shirt' group.
The assassination attempt came hours before the government extended a state of emergency in the capital at a cabinet meeting to discuss the past week's political violence. It also agreed to increase government borrowing to support the beleaguered economy.
Sondhi Limthongkul received a bloody head wound but survived after gunmen riddled his car with bullets at a petrol station before dawn.
'He is safe now and able to talk,' said Chaiwan Chareonchoktawee, director of Vajira hospital, after Mr Sondhi had an operation to remove bullet fragments and bits of skull bone.
Other leaders of Mr Sondhi's People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which was not involved in the political unrest that prompted the state of emergency, told their supporters to remain calm.
Bank of Thailand deputy governor Atchana Waiquamdee told reporters the political turmoil could affect government efforts to revive the economy and delay a recovery.
'Political instability is affecting not only confidence, but also government policies,' she said yesterday.
At the cabinet meeting, the government agreed to increase its borrowing in order to offset a revenue shortfall and get more funds to stimulate the economy.
The stock market was volatile, but ended up 0.85 per cent to 456.80 while the baht was marginally weaker.
Mr Sondhi's yellow-shirted PAD is a motley collection of royalists, academics, ex-military people and Bangkok's middle classes united in their loathing of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup and lives in self-imposed exile.
Mr Thaksin's red-shirted supporters invaded and caused the cancellation of a summit of Asian leaders in Thailand last weekend and then staged protests in Bangkok in which two people were killed before being ended on Tuesday.
Mr Sondhi, who owns the pro-government TV channel ASTV, was being driven to work before dawn yesterday when at least two men in a pickup truck ambushed his car and opened fire with an M-16 and an AK-47, first aiming to shoot out the tires and then spraying the vehicle with bullets, said Bangkok police spokesman Suporn Pansua.
'Considering the nature of the attack and the weapons used, we believe it was carried out by people with expertise,' Mr Suporn said, adding that 84 bullet shells were found on the road near the attack in western Bangkok. 'We believe the attack was meant to take lives.'
Mr Sondhi's driver was seriously wounded and his bodyguard suffered minor injuries.
A spokesman for the yellow-shirted alliance, Panthep Poapongpan, called the attack politically motivated, but stopped short of saying who he believed was behind the attack.
'It is quite clear that it was political,' he said, adding that the attack 'did not come as a surprise.' Mr Sondhi regularly travels with bodyguards.
Police said that an investigation was under way to determine the motive and they were looking into Mr Sondhi's political enemies as well as business associates who could be linked to the attack.
The government quickly moved to tighten security around Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who said that a state of emergency that was imposed on Sunday in Bangkok would remain in place.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Thursday that the ongoing turmoil meant big tax shortfalls as businesses delayed investment and the tourist sector faced more losses. He noted forecasts that the economy could shrink 5 per cent this year.
After a 6.1 per cent contraction in the economy in the final quarter of 2008, Thailand is almost certainly experiencing its first recession since the Asian economic crisis 11 years ago. -- Reuters, AP
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Thai political kingpin shot and wounded
Attack on founder of 'yellow shirt' protest movement was meant to kill, say police
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
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</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>SAFE NOWMr Sondhi had an operation to remove bullet fragments and bits of skulll bone; he received a bloody head wound after gunmen riddled his car with bullets at a petrol station before dawn </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>THE founder of Thailand's 'yellow shirt' protest movement that shut down Bangkok airports last year was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt yesterday, just days after troops cracked down on rioting protesters from the rival, anti-government 'red shirt' group.
The assassination attempt came hours before the government extended a state of emergency in the capital at a cabinet meeting to discuss the past week's political violence. It also agreed to increase government borrowing to support the beleaguered economy.
Sondhi Limthongkul received a bloody head wound but survived after gunmen riddled his car with bullets at a petrol station before dawn.
'He is safe now and able to talk,' said Chaiwan Chareonchoktawee, director of Vajira hospital, after Mr Sondhi had an operation to remove bullet fragments and bits of skull bone.
Other leaders of Mr Sondhi's People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which was not involved in the political unrest that prompted the state of emergency, told their supporters to remain calm.
Bank of Thailand deputy governor Atchana Waiquamdee told reporters the political turmoil could affect government efforts to revive the economy and delay a recovery.
'Political instability is affecting not only confidence, but also government policies,' she said yesterday.
At the cabinet meeting, the government agreed to increase its borrowing in order to offset a revenue shortfall and get more funds to stimulate the economy.
The stock market was volatile, but ended up 0.85 per cent to 456.80 while the baht was marginally weaker.
Mr Sondhi's yellow-shirted PAD is a motley collection of royalists, academics, ex-military people and Bangkok's middle classes united in their loathing of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup and lives in self-imposed exile.
Mr Thaksin's red-shirted supporters invaded and caused the cancellation of a summit of Asian leaders in Thailand last weekend and then staged protests in Bangkok in which two people were killed before being ended on Tuesday.
Mr Sondhi, who owns the pro-government TV channel ASTV, was being driven to work before dawn yesterday when at least two men in a pickup truck ambushed his car and opened fire with an M-16 and an AK-47, first aiming to shoot out the tires and then spraying the vehicle with bullets, said Bangkok police spokesman Suporn Pansua.
'Considering the nature of the attack and the weapons used, we believe it was carried out by people with expertise,' Mr Suporn said, adding that 84 bullet shells were found on the road near the attack in western Bangkok. 'We believe the attack was meant to take lives.'
Mr Sondhi's driver was seriously wounded and his bodyguard suffered minor injuries.
A spokesman for the yellow-shirted alliance, Panthep Poapongpan, called the attack politically motivated, but stopped short of saying who he believed was behind the attack.
'It is quite clear that it was political,' he said, adding that the attack 'did not come as a surprise.' Mr Sondhi regularly travels with bodyguards.
Police said that an investigation was under way to determine the motive and they were looking into Mr Sondhi's political enemies as well as business associates who could be linked to the attack.
The government quickly moved to tighten security around Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who said that a state of emergency that was imposed on Sunday in Bangkok would remain in place.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Thursday that the ongoing turmoil meant big tax shortfalls as businesses delayed investment and the tourist sector faced more losses. He noted forecasts that the economy could shrink 5 per cent this year.
After a 6.1 per cent contraction in the economy in the final quarter of 2008, Thailand is almost certainly experiencing its first recession since the Asian economic crisis 11 years ago. -- Reuters, AP
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