Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Ryan Brown
One day after two attempted car bomb attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia, an Iranian man lost both his legs in a botched explosives attack as he was running from police, according to the Bangkok Post. The English-language Thai newspaper reported that Thai government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng said the incident began after police found explosives and detonation devices in a home rented by three Iranians.
A blast was registered at the home, and one of the men, fleeing on foot, threw a pair of explosives. One was aimed at police, but it bounced off a tree and blew up near the suspect instead. The blast took off his legs and he was taken to a hospital. Four others, presumably Thai nationals, were injured in the explosions.
The Bangkok Post did not say if the terrorists in Tuesday’s violence initially intended to target Jews or Israelis, although Monday’s attacks and the suspects’ Iranian origins raise suspicions.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in comments released by his office during a visit to Singapore, said, “The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies are continuing to perpetrate terrorism. The recent attacks are yet another example of this.”
The Bangkok Post also reported a man, who had arrived in Thailand the same day as the injured Iranian, was arrested at a Thai airport trying to fly to Malaysia.
The incidents come roughly one month after a Hezbollah operative was reportedly arrested in Thailand. The Israeli National Security Council Counterterrorism Bureau, in a statement posted on the Prime Minister’s Office website, said a “cache of war materiel” was also discovered. The January 26 statement said the arrest and discovery “has led to the foiling of intentions to perpetrate attacks at the present time,” but urged Israelis in Bangkok to “remain alert.”
During his trip in Asia, Barak himself spent a few hours in Bangkok on Sunday. In his statement on Tuesday, he noted, “Iran and Hezbollah are elements of unrelenting terrorism and are endangering the stability not only of the region, but of the entire world.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, February 14, 2012)