PAD Leader shot.

Sondhi is in serious condition

Sondhi Limthongkul is in serious condition after being shot as a bullet hit his left skull. The bullet is still in his skull, causing bleeding inside his brain, Vajira Hospital Director Dr Chaiwun Charoenchoktavee said Friday.
Doctors are conducting an urgent operation on Sondhi and the operation is expected to finish around noon.

Sondhi, a core leader of yellow shirts, known also as People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who seized Bankok airports late last year, has no wounds on his body.

His driver, Vayupak Mussi, was also seriously wounded from the attack. Doctors said later that he survived and was now in stable condition.

Meanwhile PAD's spokesman Parnthep Pualpongpan said at least two attackers riding on a pickup blocked Sondhi's vehicle who was on Samsen Road, heading to Manager newspaper office in Banglampoo area early Friday morning.

The attackers then shot four tyres of Sondhi's vehicle before stepping out of their car and sprayed more bullets on the car. The attack lasted about five minutes and the attackers went back to their pickup which sped away along Tevet Road.

Police who rushed to the scene found Sondhi's car riddled with bullets and they could collect more than cartridges of AK-16 and rifles from the scene.

Parnthep said Sondhi was informed of reports that he could possible a target of attack, but he simply ignored the warnings.


Meanwhile Chamnong Paokorn, 53, a bus driver, said that he was driving his bus past Iamworanut Temple when he saw a blue pickup truck which had no license plate blocked Sondhi's vehicle.

Then two men on the back of the pickup then opened fires on the vehicle. Then another vehicle sped to the scene and exchanged fires with the attackers who later escaped the scene.

The Nation

Bangkok Post has a different version.

Sondhi Limthongkul, the Manager media mogul and founder of the People's Alliance for Democracy, survived an assassination attempt Friday that police said left him and two others wounded.

The gunmen fired about 100 rounds from assault rifles through the windows of Mr Sondhi's car as he was on the way to record a programme for his ASTV station before dawn on Friday.

He suffered head injuries, the most serious of which occurred when a piece of metal, apparently from the car, penetrated the right side of his skull, causing bleeding in his brain, according to director of Vajira Hospital Dr Wanchai Charoenchokethawee.

"Doctors are performing an operation, which is expected to be completed around noon," Dr Wanchai said, adding that there are no injuries to his body.

"At least two attackers followed Mr Sondhi's car, overtook it and sprayed it with about 100 rounds of gunfire from AK-47 and M-16s,'' said the commander, Colonel King Kwaengwisatchaicharn.

"The motive for the attack is still under investigation,'' he said.

The car was attacked at a petrol station near the central bank at around 5am, according to PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan.


Mr Sondhi's driver was in a serious condition, while an aide suffered minor injuries.

The Problem Reaction Solution Paradigm. (The Hegelian Dialectic)
1) The government creates or exploits a problem blaming it on others
2) The people react by asking the government for help willing to give up their rights
3) The government offers the solution that was planned long before the crisis

A couple of examples are, The emperorNero In 64 C.E., a fire swept through Rome, burning for a week and destroying a large portion of the city... According to some sources, when he found that he did not have enough land to build his palace, he set fire to the city a second time. It is at this point that he is said to have "played his fiddle [lyre] while Rome burned." To avert suspicion, he blamed the fires on the Christians and proceeded to kill them in horrendous ways.
On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building went up in flames. Nazis immediately claimed that this was the beginning of a Communist revolution. This fact leads many historians to believe that Nazis actually set, or help set the fire. Others believe that a deranged Dutch Communist set the fire. The issue has never been resolved. This incident prompted Hitler to convince Hindenburg to issue a Decree for the Protection of People and State that granted Nazis sweeping power to deal with the so-called emergency. This laid the foundation for a police state.
This is not my own original thought, it can be found all over the net in many forms, the Thai situation has made it very relevant!

[TrongpaiExpat]

The gunmen fired about 100 rounds from assault rifles

On a stationary target and not one kill shot? Back to the practice range. :geek:

The gunmen fired about 100 rounds from assault rifles

On a stationary target and not one kill shot? Back to the practice range. :geek:

His lucky amulet must have saved him.

[youtube:3beal6qz]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ0UeoXA40Y[/youtube:3beal6qz]

[Brad the Impala]

The gunmen fired about 100 rounds from assault rifles

On a stationary target and not one kill shot? Back to the practice range. :geek:

Apparently only wounded in the head, and not one body wound.

Something smells.

[bigben]

Simple really.

The guys shooting forgot to replace the blanks they were using last week with real ammo.

But that would imply the Army or the Reds were involved, which of course we do not know at this time.

And maybe as someone said earlier, maybe the car was fortified but still nearly 100 rounds from a rifle? YIKS !!!!!

[bigben]

Author: fattman ┬╗ Fri 17 Apr, 2009 6:07 am
Seems like they were spraying in the general direction of the car - some rounds hit a bus. Guess they were speeding past and opened up as they went.

I really don't think the damage could result with "spraying in the general direction" or "speeding past"

Speeding away I can understand.

if seeing blood and bullet holes offend you, please don't open the link below.

URL Text (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1170885/Thai-opposition-boss-walks-away-minor-wounds-gunmen-spray-car-84-bullets.html)

[elephantspike]

The Problem Reaction Solution Paradigm. (The Hegelian Dialectic)
1) The government creates or exploits a problem blaming it on others
2) The people react by asking the government for help willing to give up their rights
3) The government offers the solution that was planned long before the crisis

A couple of examples are, The emperorNero In 64 C.E., a fire swept through Rome, burning for a week and destroying a large portion of the city... According to some sources, when he found that he did not have enough land to build his palace, he set fire to the city a second time. It is at this point that he is said to have "played his fiddle [lyre] while Rome burned." To avert suspicion, he blamed the fires on the Christians and proceeded to kill them in horrendous ways.
On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building went up in flames. Nazis immediately claimed that this was the beginning of a Communist revolution. This fact leads many historians to believe that Nazis actually set, or help set the fire. Others believe that a deranged Dutch Communist set the fire. The issue has never been resolved. This incident prompted Hitler to convince Hindenburg to issue a Decree for the Protection of People and State that granted Nazis sweeping power to deal with the so-called emergency. This laid the foundation for a police state.
This is not my own original thought, it can be found all over the net in many forms, the Thai situation has made it very relevant!


Another one: The Bush administration conspires to demolish 3 skyscrapers in Manhattan, killing 3,000 people, and blames it on Islamic extremists, and proceeds to lead the USA into wars for profit in Afghanistan and Iraq. They also pass The Patriot Act, which severely limits the constitutional rights of the American people.

The guys shooting forgot to replace the blanks they were using last week with real ammo.

The Army fired live rounds last week, not blanks. Very easy to tell by looking at the rifles as they were being fired - fully automatic, with no blank firing adapters.

The car was clearly not armoured.

[Beachlover]

The engine block on that people mover is quite tall and high up so it would've provided good protection.

It looks like the attackers fired from the front. When the attackers pulled out in front of them, stopped and raised their rifles (remember all this takes a couple of seconds) the targets in the car would've had a moment to realise what was happening and had a chance to dive into the seat well.

This might explain why they put a lot of rounds into the car but not many of them went into the occupants. The engine block is thick and tall... so unless the attackers were very close up, it would've been hard to hit the occupants. Although, being on the back of a ute would've given them some of the height they need.

The one that got the PAD leader in the head might not even have been a direct hit... it might have been a ricochet.

So the key mistake may have been to fire at the vehicle from the front. The PAD had a very lucky call (if he survives)... Next time the same mistake won't be made (you would think... but this is Thailand).

The engine block on that people mover is quite tall and high up so it would've provided good protection. It looks like the attackers fired from the front.

Probably a magazine each from the front, judging by the bullet holes, and a magazine (plus) each from the side. Both M16
and AK47 rounds tumble when they hit anything (M16 more so, as they are designed to do so), whether it is a car door, a windscreen, or a body, so penetration is poor in comparison to other small arms. All of the holes were relatively high up, including those fired from the side, which is a common mistake.

Quite simply, he and his driver were lucky, and it does happen occasionally - I have seen a colleague's Sherpa van with four inside hit by a similar number of rounds (M16), again all aimed high, and nobody was hit.