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Nye bomber i Bangkok i nat.
Payanak
Top  #1 Udskriv indlæg
Lagt på d. 30/01-2007 12:05
Two small blasts rattle Bangkok, no one hurt
Posted: 30 January 2007 1245 hrs

BANGKOK : Two small explosions rattled Bangkok during the night, causing minor damage outside the offices of a newspaper and a nearby hotel but no casualties, army officials said Tuesday.

The first blast went off around 1:30 am outside the offices of Thailand's second-biggest newspaper, the Daily News, while the second exploded at the Rama Garden hotel next door, Army Lieutenant General Prayudh Chan-ocha told AFP.

The explosions caused minor damage to buildings and the road, but no one was injured, he added.

"Authorities are investigating the type of explosive and how it happened," he said.

"There is no information yet on who was behind the explosions."

Police, who have been told to defer questions to the military, said on condition of anonymity that they believe the culprits fired a grenade launcher at the building.

The blasts were the first since the coordinated New Year's Eve bomb attacks on Bangkok, which killed three people and wounded 42.

Police have questioned 19 suspects in connection with those attacks, but they were all released due to lack of evidence.

Thailand's army-installed government has said the bombers were likely members of the armed forces linked to the ousted government of premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin has denied any involvement in the attacks.

[url]www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/255539/1/.html[/url]


Two explosions in northern Bangkok

(BangkokPost.com)
Two explosions occurred early on Tuesday morning along the main road in northern Bangkok. There were no casualties reported in the blasts near the Daily News newspaper and Rama Gardens Hotel Bangkok.

The blasts are suspected to be grenades, probably fired from a military-type grenade launcher from the Don Muang Tollway, which runs above the Viphavadee Rangsit road, where the explosions occurred.

One went off around 1 a.m. just in front of the Daily News newspaper building, which is about 200 metres back from the main roadway. It blew a hole about 30 cm (one foot) wide in the ground.

The second blast, not long after, occurred about 30 metres from the first, in the parking lot of the Rama Gardens Hotel. It blew out most of the lights in the parking area, and caused a foot-wide crack in a wall.

At both scenes, police found explosive debris, which they were analysing this morning. Officers and bomb squad members said they believed the explosives were "projectile devices fired from a launcher on the Tollway."

The blasts bore little resemblance to the bombing waves on New Year's Eve, but were likely to increase pressure on authorities to solve that dealing incident.

The New Year's bombings involved actual time bombs, set in public areas to go off when large numbers of people were around. They killed three Thais and wounded more than 40 Thai and foreign bystanders.

The attacks this morning likely were by grenades. While they landed at public areas, they were fired at a time and place when both damage and casualties were likely to be light. In the event, they caused only superficial damage and no known casualties.

The Thai military and elite police forces have thousands of grenade launchers in their inventory.

The standard M40 grenade launcher and rounds can be purchased reasonably easily on the weapons black market. Both weapons and ammunition date back to the Vietnam war era, and have become common throughout Thailand and the region.

Such terrorist-type bombing was unknown in Bangkok until New Year's Eve. Through the communist wars of the 1970s and 1980s, and the southern separatist violence which has flared for 30 years, there has been no associated violence in the capital.

[url]www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=116410[/url]
 
Payanak
Top  #2 Udskriv indlæg
Lagt på d. 31/01-2007 11:12
Bombs 'weaken confidence in govt'

The grenade attack on the office of the Daily News will further undermine public confidence in the government and the Council for National Security (CNS), secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy Suriyasai Katasila said yesterday. Yesterday's attack resembled the ''plot'' of the New Year bombings in Bangkok and Nonthaburi, Mr Suriyasai said.

He said the two blasts were an indication the government and the CNS were incapable of tracking down and arresting the people behind the incidents.

''The investigation process is not working and is not reliable. The government and the CNS are unable to generate confidence among the public any longer,'' Mr Suriyasai said, referring to the recent release of suspects detained in connection with the New Year bombings due to a lack of evidence.

In the early hours of yesterday, one grenade from an M79 launcher exploded outside the Daily News office building and another in a parking area of the adjacent Rama Gardens Hotel on Vibhavadi-Rangsit road in Laksi district.

Police believed the grenades were fired from the nearby tollway and missed their intended targets. There were no casualties.

Forensic police found a hole about 12.5cm wide and 2.5cm deep and metal fragments on an access road leading to the newspaper office. Neon lights nearby had been smashed.

Two holes were found in the wall of a parking area behind the hotel's convention centre. One was about 20cm wide and 2.5cm deep, and the other about 25.5 wide and 5cm deep. Metal shards were scattered all over the area.

A security officer at the Thai-language newspaper said he heard an explosion near the office's entrance about 1am. About 10 seconds later, he saw a flash lnear the wall of the hotel's parking area and heard another explosion.

Initial police findings indicated that the attacks were not aimed at causing damage. The grenades were the type used in military exercises.

Police were gathering information about vehicles passing the tollgates between 12.30am and 2am yesterday.

They also checked footage from closed-circuit TV systems, both on the tollway and at the Daily News.

Pol Col Watcharapong Damrongsri, Thung Song Hong district police chief, said it was very likely the grenades were launched either on a nearby tollway or from behind fences along Vibhavadi-Rangsit road.

Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak Juthanont, assistant national police chief, said it was not known whether the assailants really wanted to attack the Daily News or only to intimidate the newspaper. He said the grenades were fired from an M79 grenade launcher. Bomb experts from the 1st Infantry Regiment (King's Guards) would help determine where the grenades were fired from.

Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak dismissed talk that the attacks were meant to discredit national police chief Pol Gen Kowit Wattana.

Pol Gen Kowit said CNS chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin had been briefed on the incident. Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt-Gen Viroj Chantarangsi had been put in charge of the investigation, the police chief said.

Asked if the bombers would shift their attacks from the public to the press, Pol Gen Kowit said every issue needs equal attention. He ruled out a link between the bombs and any attempt to tarnish his reputation.

The CNS met yesterday and Gen Sonthi promised to continue supporting Pol Gen Kowit, who has come under fire for the slow progress in the investigation into the New Year bombings.

Despite recent reports that the military was sceptical of the police investigation, CNS spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Pol Gen Kowit had breakfast with Gen Sonthi just before the meeting and briefed the CNS chief on progress in the investigation.

In the conference room at army headquarters, Gen Sonthi expressed moral support for the police chief and emphasised that the armed forces and the police would have to demonstrate their unity to restore confidence among the public, said the spokesman.

A Thai Journalists Association statement condemned the attack as barbaric and inhumane and demanded police bring the culprits to justice.

[url]www.bangkokpost.com/News/31Jan2007_news01.php[/url]
 
Payanak
Top  #3 Udskriv indlæg
Lagt på d. 31/01-2007 11:24
Police reform on the agenda

A committee of 28 law enforcement experts is drawing up a proposal on how best to reform the police force. The main questions are: What will be done? And will the actions benefit the country and people - as well as the police force itself?

Police. The word has always had a controversial ring to it, even more so these days. Faced with charges of incompetence - as in the still unresolved case of Bangkok's New Year's Eve blasts - corruption and violation of human rights, among others, the police force has now been targeted for reform, which Prime Minister Surayud promises will be done before his term ends.

The government-appointed committee on police reform chaired by retired officer Pol Gen Vasit Dejkunchorn has been told to come up with a concrete set of proposals by May this year. The committee is made up of 28 experts in law enforcement.

While defining its theme for reform as "police for the people", the committee will organise a series of seminars nationwide to sound out and gather opinions from people of all social strata.

The information gathered from these seminars will be collated and added to the concluding report, a so-called road map for the reform of the Royal Thai Police, which will be submitted to the prime minister.

The first public hearing seminar was held on Jan 18 at Government House to introduce the reform proposal.

According to Kittipong Kitayarak, deputy permanent secretary for justice and the committee's secretary, the proposal defines several major areas that need to be adjusted in order to improve police work.

"We don't seek to reform the police force because of mismanagement by the previous government. We are doing it because we see that it is time to change, to gain people's faith and trust," Mr Kittipong said.

As former PM Thaksin Shinawatra was once a policeman, he was often accused of using the institution as a base to accumulate his power.

Mr Kittipong cited an Abac Poll result as one of the many justifiable reasons for the revamp of the police institution. He said that more than 70% of the respondents wanted to see police with more integrity, honesty and professionalism. They also expressed their desire to feel safe and secure when contacting police.

The proposal includes:

FDecentralising the police commission to a regional level;

FEstablishing a national-level civil committee responsible for policy concerning the police and nine such committees at the regional level. These committees will be independent of one another;

FEstablishing an independent committee to take public complaints of police misconduct;

FSafeguarding the police force from political interference;

FImproving the welfare, wage and supervision of lower-ranking officers;

FTransferring missions deemed not essential to the police to other agencies;

FImproving the 1,450 police stations and public security services;

FImproving police skills in investigation to help officers perform their duties efficiently;

FCreating checks-and-balance mechanisms, and

FEnabling public participation in police work.

Mr Kittipong said that the reform would not necessarily reduce the police's "dignity" as inside officers seem to fear. What the reform chiefly seeks, is to solve the problem of political interference and power politics within the law enforcement institution, which has been widespread in the past.

The committee believes it will be able to achieve this through decentralisation of power. Under the reformed structure, local police would be able to manage their budget and transfer of officials without having to request approval from the National Police Office.

Apart from this, Mr Kittipong said, police would receive better welfare and wages from the state, just like officials from the Department of Special Investigation and the Office of the Attorney-General. The higher compensation would help prevent them from seeking bribes and thus reduce corruption, the committee hopes.

Mr Kittipong insisted that despite the poor public perception, the police commission has continuously tried to improve itself. The Royal Thai Police Act 2004, for example, promotes decentralisation and public participation in police affairs. Since it is along the same lines with the committee's reform goal, the latter may use this law as a basis to draft new rules and regulations for police officers, he said.

Atcharaphan Jaratsawat, a lecturer in criminology and justice process at Mahidol University, said that her expectations regarding the reform were mainly that people would be able to receive fair and legitimate treatment whether they were suspects or victims of a crime, apart from the fact that police should be able to carry out their job swiftly, with good knowledge, professional skills and respect for an established code of conduct, of course.

The criminologist, who has been adviser on social policy to former deputy interior minister Pracha Maleenont, suggested that the interim government set up a few model police stations to illustrate what the service would be like after the force is reformed.

The reason is, she does not believe the government will be able to transform all 1,450 police stations across the country to be in tune with the decentralisation policy within the limited time it has.

Niran Pithakwatchara, a former senator from Ubon Ratchathani, who is a leading campaigner against the "police state" allegedly designed by ousted prime minister Thaksin, believed the reform will benefit everyone.

He said if the public were allowed to participate in the administration of the police, as the reform seems to suggest, they could help monitor the officers at work.

With that, the police would no longer dare to carry on illegal activities such as protecting underground lottery, contraband goods trade or gambling dens - activities they have been accused of being involved in at present.

A better checks-and-balance mechanism would also prompt the police to handle cases professionally, without resorting to violent means to obtain confessions.

Wallop Hirikul, chairman of the 70 -rai community in Klong Toey slum in Bangkok, agreed with the government's efforts to decentralise the monolithic National Police Office.

"It's what we want to see most. Klong Toey slum dwellers have wanted good policemen to work in the area for so long. We don't want our local police station to be a place where bad cops end up," Mr Wallop said.

Mr Wallop said giving enough authority to local police stations would be an effective measure to make local police work more efficiently and to bar bad police officers from being transferred around.

The community leader called for quick passage of the proposal within this government's term, as he was unsure if it would get approval or recognition from the next parliament, which would consist of representatives from different political parties.

A police colonel in Bangkok who asked not to be named, said he endorsed the transfer of non-relevant duties from the police to other agencies. If that happened, he said, junior officers would be relieved of a lot of unneccesary burden.

[url]www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=116436[/url]


UN called in to help fix Thai police
Specialists to draw up roadmap for reform

The United Nations will send experts to Thailand to help the government reform the police force. Kittipong Kittiyarak, secretary-general of the committee on police reform, said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will send four specialists to Thailand to conduct a workshop and seminar on police reform in March.

The two sides met on Saturday when UNODC's deputy executive director Dimitri Vlassis and criminal justice reform unit head Mark Shaw were in Thailand en route to India and Cambodia.

Mr Shaw is a former police officer who has helped develop a police reform blueprint in South Africa.

Jaran Pakditanakul, permanent secretary for justice, was also at the meeting.

Mr Kittipong, also deputy permanent secretary for justice, said the UN approach was no different than Thailand's. Both favour involving the public in police restructuring, decentralising the force and ensuring police work more closely with the public, he said.

The UN experts coming in March specialise in establishing roadmaps for police reform, Mr Kittipong said. This involves outlining the process of decentralisation, setting up a police board and forming an independent committee to receive complaints from the public, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Kittipong plans next week to distribute to the public tens of thousands of handbooks on police reform to make known what the committee is doing and the benefits that will result.

''After distributing the handbooks, the police will understand that reform is not intended to destroy the former structure under deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,'' he said.

On the contrary, police will be politically neutral and need not fear influential persons, Mr Kittipong said. The transfer process will be fairer and unnecessary work will be delegated to community personnel, he said.

Police will also get better funding, which will improve work efficiency, he added.

There is no proposal to close the police cadet school, Mr Kittipong said. But the school should be run as a Special Delivery Unit with experts to train police in skills related to their profession, he said.

At a seminar on Jan 19, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont pledged to begin the process of police reform during the year-long term of his interim government.

He emphasised the importance of public participation in the process and said the government wanted to enhance public trust in the police.

Advocates of decentralisation say the 270,000-strong police force is too large to answer to only one commander.

Meanwhile, the Police Cadet Academy will open a master's degree course for the first time since it was established in 1902.

Pol Lt-Gen Pongsaphat Pongchareon, academy director, said the academy has joined hands with the US-based Sam Houston State University to offer the two-year course in criminal justice.

The course will be conducted in English at the academy in Nakhon Pathom's Sam Phran district.

[url]www.bangkokpost.com/News/31Jan2007_news04.php[/url]
 
resten
Top  #4 Udskriv indlæg
Lagt på d. 31/01-2007 11:41
Damn vi flyver til Bangkok her i morgen og skal være der et par dage...
Thailand en gang Thailand altid...
 
www.resten.dk
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