Thailand’s political leaders detained in bombing investigation

Bangkok (VNA) – An undisclosed number of political figures in the south of Thailand, including some red-shirts, have been detained and are being interrogated as part of an investigation into the recent bomb attacks that left four people dead and more than 30 others injured.

Local media reported they were arrested by local security officers on August 13 for questioning and are likely to be sent to military prisons in Bangkok for further interrogation.

In the morning the same day, security forces raided the home of Prapas Rojanapitak, a red-shirt leader in Trang, one of the southern provinces hit by the explosions. He said he had never thought of carrying out any violent acts.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai – a political party of the Red Shirts also denied involvement in the blasts that happened on August 11-12.

According to security sources, Thailand sought Malaysia’s cooperation to investigate the number of a mobile phone used in the bombing in Phuket.

The explosion did not destroy a portion of the phone with Malaysia’s serial number still visible.

In the series of bomb blasts in some southern provinces of Thailand, mobile phones were used as tools to activate the homemade bombs.

The investigation team has concluded that all the bombings are connected because the tools used are the same (mobile phones) to activate the bombs and the bombs were all timed to explode in the morning.-VNA