Thailand charges Iranian bomb suspects

15 Feb 2012, 9:31 pm   -   Source: AAP
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One man hurled an explosive device at a taxi that refused to stop, triggering a blast that tore off his legs, police said. (AAP)

One man hurled an explosive device at a taxi that refused to stop, triggering a blast that tore off his legs, police said. (AAP)

Two Iranians have been charged over three explosions in Bangkok, with Iran denying involvement and Israel pointing to blasts in other capital cities.

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Thailand has charged two Iranians over an alleged bomb plot against Israeli diplomats.

The arrests put pressure on Tehran, which has been accused of mounting a terror campaign against Israel.

Tensions between the Middle East arch-foes have risen sharply following three bomb incidents in world capitals in less than 24 hours, but Iran has angrily rejected accusations that it is to blame.

On Monday bombers targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia before escaping.

In Bangkok, two Iranians were detained over three blasts that rattled the Thai capital on Tuesday. They were charged with causing an illegal explosion and other offences, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Wednesday.

"We cannot say yet if it's a terrorist act, but it's similar to the assassination attempt against a diplomat in India," he told reporters.

One of the men - named as 28-year-old Saeid Morati - had his legs blown off as he hurled an explosive device at Thai police while fleeing an earlier, apparently unintended, blast at a house in the Thai capital, officials said.

He was unconscious but in a stable condition, according to the Bangkok hospital where he is being treated.

A second Iranian suspect was detained while trying to board a flight out of the country, and a third suspect is believed to have fled to Malaysia, officials said.

"These three Iranian men are an assassination team and their targets were Israeli diplomats, including the ambassador," a senior Thai intelligence official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Their plan was to attach bombs to diplomats' cars."

Israel accused Iran of orchestrating attacks on Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia on Monday.

An Israeli diplomat in New Delhi suffered serious shrapnel wounds when a motorbike assailant attached a bomb to her car on Monday.

Iran, which has already denied responsibility for the Delhi and Tbilisi incidents, said it had no link to the Bangkok blasts and blamed what it called "elements linked with the (Israeli) Zionist regime".

Observers, however, noted that the use of motorbike assassins to blow up targets' cars closely mirrored the method used to murder nuclear scientists in Iran in the past two years, raising the possibility of Iranian payback and a vicious covert war between Israel and Iran.

Thai police said explosives and magnets were found inside the house in a residential area of Bangkok where the first blast occurred, shattering windows and causing the roof of the building to collapse.

"I saw two Middle Eastern-looking men covered with blood run out from the house," said Da Klond, a housemaid living opposite. "Broken glass was thrown across the street and fell in our garden."

Bangkok has been on the watch for a terror attack since police last month charged a Lebanese man suspected of planning a strike. That followed a United States warning that tourist areas might be targeted.

Thai authorities alleged the Lebanese man had links to Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Muslim Shi'ite group that is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington.

Israel has accused Iran of involvement in Tuesday's blasts in Bangkok.

"The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies are continuing to act in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said.

Israel's ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoham, told AFP that the Bangkok suspects appeared to be "part of the same network" that targeted Israeli embassy staff in India and Georgia.

The US condemned the Bangkok blasts and voiced concern about a worldwide "uptick" in such violence, including some with alleged links to Iran.

The terror scare is a blow to Thailand's tourist-friendly image, which was badly dented last year by devastating flooding as well as political protests.

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