2 Men Arrested In Sondhi Assassination Attempt

A Thai court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for an army officer and a policeman as suspects in an assassination attempt on a leading political activist, a court official said. The pair, both of junior rank, will face police questioning over alleged involvement in the attack on Sondhi Limthongkul, founder of the 'Yellow Shirts' protest movement, on April 17.

The warrants follow the discovery of a pick-up truck earlier Tuesday by police, which is believed to have been involved in the shooting. 'A court approved arrest warrants against the two suspects this afternoon, after a request by police,' the court official told AFP. Media mogul Sondhi, his driver and his aide were wounded when gunmen thought to be riding in two pick-up trucks sprayed his car with automatic gunfire in Bangkok. Sondhi needed an operation to remove a bullet fragment from his skull.

His movement, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), said it believed 'men in uniform' were to blame following the attack. Thailand's army chief General Anupong Paojinda later admitted that three of the bullets used came from a military unit. Protests by Mr Sondhi's royalist PAD led to the coup in 2006 which toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is supported by rival 'Red Shirts'.

The PAD took to the streets again in 2008 to oppose governments led by Thaksin's allies, in a campaign that peaked with a crippling airport blockade in Bangkok in late November-early December.

(Nation)