BANGKOK // A Thai protest leader shot and wounded by assailants in the capital after days of rioting is in a stable condition and recovering rapidly, doctors said today. The brazen attack on Sondhi Limthongkul, the leader of the "yellow shirt" movement that helped topple Thailand's government three years ago, has raised political temperatures that had started to cool after rioting by rival "red shirt" protesters was quelled earlier in the week.
Dr Thirapong Chaorenwit, the acting director at Chulalongkorn Hospital, said Mr Sondhi, who had bullet shards removed from his head, would need a few more days to recuperate then another week of rest before he can head home. "The saline tube has been taken out. He now can sit, walk and eat normally," said Dr Thirapong. He added that an aide who was hit in yesterday's pre-dawn attack also was improving, though the driver remains in serious condition.
Bangkok remained under emergency rule and security was tightened around prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who said the assassination attempt against Sondhi should not serve as an excuse for more conflict. "We are concerned by the shooting obviously. We've got to restore order," Mr Abhisit said. "We do not want this to be used to create a wider conflict." But the attack was a new strain in long-standing tensions between backers of Mr Abhisit's government and supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup three years ago and whose allies were removed from power by the courts last autumn. Mr Sondhi, an outspoken media tycoon and founder of the People's Alliance for Democracy, was ambushed on his way to work by gunmen in a pickup truck firing M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles. At least five men are now believed to have been involved, deputy police chief Jongrak Chutanond said today. Bullets shattered the windscreen and the rear window.
* AP
