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Security Tightened Around Thai PM After Plane Fire
Security has been tightened around Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, following Saturday's fire incident in the capital's domestic airport which destroyed a plane just 30 minutes before the premier was to board, local TV news reports said Monday morning.
An air force plane will be placed at Thaksin's service and a 12- man commando unit has been assigned to provide security for him.
Thaksin said he was resigned to a life with tightened security, and had requested little during the past because he had not anticipated any threat.
A Boeing 737-400 passenger plane of Thai Airways International mystically burst into flames and was totally destroyed in Saturday afternoon at Bangkok's Don Muang domestic airport, when passengers were waiting for check-in at the terminal.
Thaksin, Thailand.html target=_blank>Thailand's premier, was to board the plane to his hometown of Chiang Mai, about 1,000 kilometers north of Bangkok. He was on the way to the airport at that time.
He admitted Sunday that it could have been an attempt to his life, noting that he appeared to be the only VIP passenger on that plane.
He said since few people knew his travel schedule, then if he was the target of the incident, the person who made the move must have had access to his schedule.
Meanwhile, investigators have found traces of explosives and an incendiary chemical in the charred remains of the burned plane, indicating that a bomb might have been placed on board.
Thai police, air force, airport authorities and Thai Airways International have formed separate teams to investigate the incident. Their findings would be combined together later.
Thai force investigators identified three groups which may have been responsible for the attack, including drug traffickers, international terrorists and political enemies of the premier.
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