Israeli ambassador links Thailand bombs to Indian attacks

Israeli ambassador links Thailand bombs to Indian attacks
Kate Hodal
The Guardian

The DIY explosives found in a Bangkok house after a series of blasts rocked the capital on Tuesday were similar to devices used against Israeli embassy targets in India and Georgia, Israel's ambassador has said, a day after Israel's defence minister accused Iran of being behind the thwarted attack.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations "baseless" and said that Israel was attempting to sabotage its relations with Thailand.

Five people, including the bomber himself, were injured in Tuesday's blasts after three explosions went off in Bangkok's bustling Ekkamai neighbourhood at around 2pm local time. The first explosion occurred at a residential house rented by three Iranian nationals, according to police, who fled the house after a cache of homemade explosives accidentally ignited. Two men fled the scene while the third, wounded and disorientated from the blast, attempted to hail down a taxi before throwing a grenade at the car and then again at police.

The assailant, an Iranian national identified as Saied Moradi, missed his target, however, and the bomb detonated in front of him, blowing off one leg and requiring the amputation of the other.

Upon searching the assailant's house, Thai police found and defused two magnetic bombs that could be attached to vehicles, much like those used in recent attacks against Israeli embassy targets, said the Israeli ambassador, Itzhak Shoham.

"They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and in Tbilisi," Shoham told Associated Press. "From that we can assume that there is the same network of terror."

A bomb squad source quoted in the Bangkok Post said that each bomb could cause serious damage within a 40-metre radius, and that such bomb-making methods had never before been seen in Thailand.

On Tuesday evening, Thai police arrested a second man, Mohummad Hazaei, who was thought to be involved in the bombings, as he attempted to board a flight for Malaysia at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. The Bangkok Post reported that Hazaei, 42, refused to give testimony to the police upon his arrest.

The third suspect, named as Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 27, left Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon and is now in Kuala Lumpur, the deputy police chief Pol Gen Pansiri Prapawat told The Nation.

However, Thai police have not yet alerted their Malaysian colleagues to the fact that the suspect may now be wandering their capital's streets, a Royal Malaysia Police spokesperson said on Wednesday, on condition of anonymity.

"So far we have no information about this matter and know nothing about the suspect, if he is in Malaysia or not," he said. "If the Thai police do believe they have got the right information, they have to inform us so we can work with them – but this is the first I've heard of this news."

The arrest of two Iranians on Tuesday by Thai police, plus the similarity of the "sticky bombs" used in Georgia and India, "leaves not too much room to assume who was behind [Bangkok's blasts]", Shoham said.

When asked whether the explosives used in India and Thailand were the same, the Thai national security council secretary Wichian Podphosri said: "They both have the same magnetic sheets attached to the bombs.

"The individual was in possession of the same magnets and we are currently examining the source of the magnet."

Despite a number of countries issuing security alerts for Thailand – among them Israel, the UK and US – Thailand's prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, encouraged the public "not to panic" and said it was too early to determine if the attacks were caused by terrorists.

However, Thai national police chief Priewpan Damapong said on Wednesday that the bombs were intended for "foreign nationals" in Thailand.

Analysts, however, have noted that the recent attacks in India, Georgia and Thailand have all been amateurish and lend doubt to the operation of a high-tech terrorism wing.

"[They] lack the sophistication that would normally be expected from an operation executed by either Hezbollah or Iran's own external operations wing, the Quds Force," said Will Hartley, IHS Jane's head of terrorism and insurgency centre.