Thaksin not behind Bangkok bombings: lawyer

Thailand's Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied his involvement in the bomb attacks in Bangkok on early New Year's Eve and early New Year's Day, the ex- premier's lawyer was quoted by local media as saying on Monday.

Noppadol Pattama, legal advisor to the Thaksin family, said Thaksin expressed his sorrow over the attacks, which killed three persons and injured some 40 others with coordinated eight bomb explosions across Bangkok and its suburbs.

"He (Thaksin) insisted that he did not even think about creating disturbance or violence so that he could return to power, " Noppadol was quoted by news network The Nation as saying.

"Thaksin said he is worried and feels that it is unfair to link him and the ousted political clique to the bomb attacks," the lawyer said.

The Thai Rak Thai party, who ruled the former government under Thaksin's leadership, also denied involvement in the attacks Sunday night after the New Year's Eve bombings blast Bangkok.

Thaksin remained traveling overseas since he was ousted by military leaders in the Sept. 19 coup when he was in New York, and not allowed to return to Thailand without consent of the military Council for National Security (CNS) and the interim government led by new prime minister Surayud Chulanont installed by CNS.

Surayud earlier on the day at a press conference said his government believed that those groups whose political interests were lost in the Sept. 19 coup that ousted Thaksin administration were behind the Bangkok bomb attacks, though the military- installed premier didn't say clearly which groups had been suspected.

The premier said he did not think the blasts were linked to the ongoing insurgent violence in the country's southernmost provinces, which have seen daily bombings, shooting and arson attacks since the violence revived three years ago and nearly 2,000 people have been killed.

Source: Xinhua