BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's powerful military council alleged Wednesday that New Year's Eve bomb attacks in Bangkok were staged by politicians and renegade army officers who are loyal to exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and want to topple the government.
The military council was set up after generals toppled Thaksin in a bloodless coup Sept. 19 and it later appointed an interim civilian government to run the country until promised elections in October. It vowed to severely punish those behind the bombings, which killed three people and wounded nearly 40 while the city was in the midst of New Year's celebrations.
"The evidence and intelligence information proves that the bombs were the dirty work of politicians who lost power and benefit," said Gen. Saprang Kanlayanamitr, a member of the Council for National Security. "Some bad soldiers loyal to the bad politicians collaborated with them with the intention to topple this government."
Thaksin, in a handwritten letter faxed Tuesday from China and distributed by his lawyer in Thailand, accused the interim government of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont of unfairly implicating him in the violence.
"I strongly condemn this act (of bombing) and I swear that I never ever think of hurting the people and destroying the country's credibility for my own political gain," Thaksin said in the letter, given to reporters.
He also said he suspected Islamic separatists, who have waged a bloody insurgency in the country's southernmost provinces for the past three years, may have been responsible for the eight small blasts that shattered Sunday night's celebrations.
But Saprang told reporters that was not the case.
"The bandits and terrorist groups in southern Thailand had no links or connections to the bombs in Bangkok," Saprang said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings and no arrests have been made.
Saprang said "from now on there will be no compromise" with the country's former power-brokers. He hinted former Prime Minister Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was part of the pro-Thaksin camp, saying the group had "used an old soldier to launch a war of words against the government and (council)." Chavalit has sharply criticized the interim government recently.
The bombings have raised concerns about Thailand's stability, shaky economy and thriving tourism industry. Nine of the wounded were foreigners.
The attacks capped a year of unrest in Thailand, including the coup and the increasingly violent Muslim insurgency in the south which has claimed almost 2,000 lives since 2004.
Several analysts speculated the military itself was a possible suspect in the bombings, perhaps aiming to demonize the former prime minister and give a pretext for the continuation of martial law, imposed during the September takeover and still in effect in some parts of the country.
Bangkok has rarely experienced deadly bombings.
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