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Thailand's yellow-shirt leader survives assassination attempt
The Australian - April 17, 2009
Peter Alford, Bangkok – An attempt this morning to murder Sondhi Limthongkul, the main leader of Thailand's pro-royalist People's Alliance for Democracy, risks reigniting savage political violence in the country.
Mr Sondhi's car was sprayed with automatic rifle fire about 5am local time, apparently as he was travelling to the Bangkok headquarters of his media group.
Mr Sondhi, 61, was shot in the head but was conscious and talking when brought to hospital. He underwent a lengthy operation to remove a bullet fragment from his skull, medical authorities said.
Chaiwan Charoenchoketavee, director of Vajira Medical College where Mr Sondhi is being treated, said he would remain at the hospital for about a week while he recovers.
"The operation has been completed. It took around two hours and Sondhi is now safe, in a good condition and able to talk," he told AFP.
"The bullet shrapnel penetrated the outer skull and caused the broken skull to crush the outer membrane of the brain, but it did not penetrate into the brain itself," he said.
Parnthep Pourpongpan, a spokesman for the PAD movement, also confirmed that medical authorities had informed them that Mr Sondhi was out of danger.
"We do not know who is responsible but we do know the attack was politically motivated. We will wait for the police investigation and follow the justice system," he told AFP.
As a key figure in the PAD movement, the so-called yellow-shirts, Mr Sondhi led a campaign of mass civil disobedience in Bangkok that helped create the conditions for the September 2006 army coup against then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Last year, the PAD returned to the streets to destabilise the pro-Thaksin government led by Samak Sundaravej, occupying Government House for three months and at one stage invading and forcing the closure of Bangkok's international airport, Suvarnabhumi.
Mr Sondhi and the other yellow-shirt leaders are hated by many in the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) for their role in overthrowing Thailand's two most recent elected governments.
The red-shirted UDD protesters plunged Thailand back into political chaos last weekend.
Their protest forced the postponement of ASEAN and East Asian leaders' summits on Saturday and the following day they took over parts of central Bangkok in a violent attempt to overthrow Abhisit Vejjajiva's four-month-old government.
Bangkok and surrounding provinces are still under a state of emergency declared by Mr Abhisit while the army regains full control of national security.
Although there is no initial information available about the identity of the gunmen, today's attack is likely to provoke calls for an even tougher crackdown on the UDD and to bring Mr Thaksin back to Thailand to face charges over his role in the red uprising.
Mr Sondhi's car was sprayed with automatic rifle fire about 5am local time, apparently as he was travelling to the central Bangkok office of his Manager Media group.
The Nation newspaper reported on its website this morning that the attack was by several men shooting from the back of a pickup truck. Police later recovered about 100 shell casings from the scene.
The businessman, his driver and his bodyguard were all injured. The driver was seriously hurt but initially it was reported that Mr Sondi had suffered only an arm wound.
However a surgeon at Wachira Hospital later told reporters that Mr Sondhi had undergone surgery to remove a bullet from his head.
Mr Sondhi was once a friend and business associate of the now-fugitive Mr Thaksin.
But he turned against him in 2004, beginning a sequence of damaging attacks through his newspaper and his television programs, accusing Mr Thaksin of corruption and disloyalty to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (With AFP)
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