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AN IRANIAN MAN carrying grenades blew off his own legs and wounded four civilians today after an earlier blast shook his house in Bangkok, Thai authorities said.
The explosions came a day after an Israeli diplomatic car was bombed in India — an attack Israel blamed on Iran.
Authorities say it’s unclear whether the Bangkok explosions were linked to the New Delhi attack, but Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “we can’t rule out any possibility.”
The Israeli defence minister has accused Iran of being behind the Bangkok blast.
Thai security forces found more explosives in a house where the Iranian man was staying in Bangkok, but the possible targets were not known, Police Gen Pansiri Prapawat said.
A passport found at the scene of one blast indicated the assailant was Saeid Moradi from Iran, Pansiri said.
Today’s violence began in the afternoon when a stash of explosives apparently detonated by accident in Moradi’s house, blowing off part of the roof. Police said two foreigners quickly left the residence, followed by a wounded Moradi.
“He tried to wave down a taxi, but he was covered in blood, and the driver refused to take him,” Pansiri said. He then threw an explosive at the taxi and began running.
Police who had been called to the area then tried to apprehend Moradi, who hurled a grenade to defend himself. “But somehow it bounced back” and blew off his legs, Pansiri said.
Photos of the wounded Iranian showed him covered in dark soot on a sidewalk strewn with broken glass. He lay in front of a Thai primary and secondary school. No students were reported wounded.
A dark satchel nearby was investigated by a bomb disposal unit. Pansiri said police found Iranian currency, US dollars and Thai money in the bag.
Three Thai men and one Thai woman were brought to Kluaynamthai Hospital for treatment of injuries, said Suwinai Busarakamwong, a doctor there.
Israel and the United States at the time warned their citizens to be alert in the capital, but Thai authorities said Thailand appeared to have been a staging ground but not the target of any attack.
Pansiri said that “so far, we haven’t found any links between these two cases.”
Immigration police are trying to trace Moradi’s movements, but initial reports indicated he flew into Thailand from Seoul, South Korea on February 8, Pansiri said. He landed at the southern Thai resort town of Phuket, then stayed in a hotel in Chonburi, a couple hours drive southeast of Bangkok, for several nights.
Bangkok’s blasts came one day after bombs targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. The attack in India wounded four people, while the device found in Georgia did not explode. Iran has denied it was responsible.
Israeli police have increased the state of alert in the country, emphasizing public places, foreign embassies and offices, as well as Ben-Gurion International Airport.
Thailand has rarely been a target for foreign terrorists, although a domestic Muslim insurgency in the country’s south has involved bombings of civilian targets.
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Time for another round on the E.U.
gravey train.
@Adrian: the world democracy is derived from a combination of the 2 Greek words for ‘power’ and ‘people’. To quote Abraham Lincoln ‘government of the people, for the people, by the people’. Western style democracy is more a system of control than self determination. It’s not for the people. In the case of the war in Ukraine it’s largely for the benefit of Washington, at the expense of the people. The power elite in every European country does the same. They follow orders, irrespective of what’s best for the country. They (the elite politicians) identify more with each other than they do with the citizens they are supposed to represent. That’s where we are now with the EU now I’m afraid.
@Ordinary Bloke: stunning, in-depth and nuanced analysis, complete with etymology lesson. Still, I’d say you’re probably better off sticking with the hurling.
@Ordinary Bloke: and there it is in a nut shell
Daly and Wallace could be making their exit from the train.
@Willie Marty: I hope they are both re-elected. Previously, neither of them would’ve been my (political) cup of tea. Claire, is a socialist. Mick, I’m not sure what ideology he has. It’s been a real eye opener for me in the last 18 months the huge importance of having MEP’s at times like this. I may not agree with their other positions but it’s critical that we have maverick politicians who aren’t afraid to call out the hypocrisy of the West in this Ukraine conflict. I’m immensely proud of Claire and Mick. They’ve won international praise for their anti-war stance and for (almost alone in Brussels) having the balls and gumption to call it for what it is. Claire is actually in my constituency. She’ll be my # 1 vote – something I wouldn’t have considered 5 years ago. Well done to both.
@Willie Marty: That would be progress and maybe bring Ming too!!
@Ordinary Bloke: I might add that as a man in his early 60’s, who has seen a lot and been through a lot, you are always learning. I’ll repeat, it has been a huge eye opener for me on the importance of having different and diverse voices (in your political representation) at different times. This never really occurred to me before. Ireland has a rich democratic tradition and I’m hugely proud of both of them.
@Ordinary Bloke: Amazing analysis!!
@Ordinary Bloke: Hopefully Moscow Mick and Kremlin Clare will be history after the next election. They are a disgrace and the sooner they are consigned to the dustbin of history the better. An example of how kremlin Clare thinks, she was recently on the Katie Hannon RTE program. She stated that all wars end with peace talks, rubbish the biggest and most destructive war of all time WW2 ended when the Nazis and Japanese were totally bombed out and smashed. Unconditional surrender. I would be amazed and saddened if any of them are re elected.
@Chris Gaffney: Ming is great craic, he shows up the dangle berries in FFG for what they are and upesets their little triggered support. Its a win win
@Ordinary Bloke: we’ll with any luck you’ll be on your own. They are both nothing short of a thundering disgrace to our country. They’ve changed sides so many time s it’s impossible to keep up. They always want something to protest and generally making a show of the Irish in the process. Nobody wants war but Moscow Mick is all for Ukraine rolling over and crawling to the negotiating table like cowards. All so the gravy train doesn’t get derailed. As for daly, for gods sake can someone sent her some samples of hair products. She always looks like she’s just woken up in a shrubbery after a hard night on the town and climbed in the bash room window. There is one person each of them is thinking about over there, themselves!
What’s worse than having 1 corrupt government? Having two, of course. Down with the EU.
@Brian: lol
elections? but I thought the EU was a dictatorship?
@087mail: Who is the dictator then?
I think p45s for Wallace and Daly would be a great result. SFs Chris MacManus will hopefully lose his seat too.
Europe for the people, that was called out as not true when the Euro currency was put ahead of the Irish people, because we bailed out the Euro and will be paying for this forever example the temporary USC tax.
Europe for the people not true considering gas is charges are linked to electricity charges where no gas is used. Europe has destroyed Ireland in its over reaching dictators who now want more votes. Get stuffed Italy might just follow the Britex module.
For those of you who still think the EU is run by unelected bureaucrats (as all brexiteers thought), here’s one of the two reasons why you are consistently wrong. And it’s possible you may have already voted for your own MEP in the past!!!
@Paul Furey: to be fair, it does appear and feel like it’s very remote and abstract. I get why people are cynical about it, it’s a big machine that takes a long time to turn. In my opinion it over reaches and doesn’t balance the cultures it represents.
@Sean McCarthy: there are 27 countries that need to agree on all legislation. The alternative isn’t the greatest.
Well, no one is voting for them would be a pretty good reason!!
Ireland needs to have MEP and TDs that are more representative of the diverse population.
Why no representation for Islam? According to census the Muslim population has quadrupled since 2016.
Where is the reprentation?
@Barry Donnelly: 1.3% of the population.
With 27 different countries u also have 27 different cultures, each country is a sovereign state they have their own Gov and whatever the EU proposes shud only be passed by the people of each country, it shudnt be the case that if they don’t concur with the national vote they order another until they succeed that is not democracy its dictatorship, they reduce State Gov to caretaker status and punish them if they don’t toe the line, European cities are turning into war zones, the migrant crisis!! No control, Nations being forced to take undocumented young men, some of their green initiatives are barmy, they sent Brian Lenihan to an early grave along with many others, the Germans had to approve our budgets, the bond holders had to be paid back and they approved Austerity to do it, not good
The level of blind ignorance
So our constituencies are Dublin, Munster and whatever is left over.
The EU doesn’t have to be perfect to be the best option for Ireland.
Of course, the dictators in Russia and China hate the EU as it makes us less vulnerable to their “requests”.
have your say